


Doki Doki Sunny Days

by AceKizakura



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel), OMORI (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-22 03:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 56,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30032241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceKizakura/pseuds/AceKizakura
Summary: After the Good ending of Omori, Sunny moves and, not having his friends around, makes some new ones. Seeing similar problems to his own in then, he does his best to help make things better and reddeem himself.*Warning!*, this will be open to all of the dark content present in both Omori and DDLC. Be warned that if you can't handle one of said games, this may not be the story for you
Comments: 60
Kudos: 160





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to Gen3king for Helping me work on my outlines for the second week's arcs and a new twist to the ending i planned.
> 
> They are a wonderful writer, so make sure to check out their content!
> 
> Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/gen3king
> 
> Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/LeoBenedict7

_"I have something to tell you."_

_Sunny wasn't a very social person, even before what took place many years ago._

_He never talked much, he was more of the kind to listen. However, at that moment, he needed to speak for once._

_He hadn't been honest to his friends. He hadn't told them everything, out of a combination of many feelings, from fear to self loathing and even denial. However, in that moment in the hospital, it all changed._

_He had admitted to everything, to accidentally killing his sister, and worse yet, to the fact that he and Basil had…_

_He grimaced just recalling having to describe that moment. He recalled the horror, anger, and many other emotions strewn on his friends faces._

_One by one, he watched each one leave. He had expected this. If they ever accepted what happened and moved on, it would be far later. They would need time._

_Deep down though, he believed in them, that they might one day understand. He knew all of them well, and had hope, so he tried his best not to let their disparaged expressions as they left get the best of him._

_This all had taken place a week ago._

_In that time, he still hasn't heard from anyone besides Basil, who seemed to overall be doing better._

_Still, distracting himself from his thoughts, Sunny had to focus._

  
  
  


_As of now, Sunny found himself quietly checking a schedule as he walked into a school for the first time in many years. After Mari… well, died, Sunny had effectively given up on himself and everything. He dropped out of school more or less and secluded himself to his room._

_Now though, due to the encouragement of his friends, he was going to try and improve himself, and that started with going to school like anyone else. Even if they weren't talking now, he was going to do his best for them. That would at least be a part of his apology._

_Getting back enrolled wasn't as much of an issue as he expected, as it turned out his mother had listed him as "Homeschooled." This entire time, as just not going to school is kind of, well, illegal._

_Still, being out for such an extended time came with many issues. He didn't know much when it came to more modern technology for one. For two, he had essentially skipped 4 years of education._

_Still, Sunny refused to let that daunt him. After all, he had already done what felt impossible before not even a week ago. He finally was starting to feel ready to change things._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Ring Ring Ring!_

_As the bells Toll, a new day begins._

_The first day at school, a fresh start._

_…_

_In hindsight, What on earth am I going to do today? With how behind I am, it's not like I can expect to make the best starting impression. To make matters worse, I have a very hard time talking to friends, and an even harder one talking to others._

_How am I even going to make it through my first day?_

_"_ Sunny? Sunny Omosu?"

_As my name was called out, I realized that the class was in the middle of a roll call. I raised my hand, and the teacher continued on._

_Once finished, the man fiddled his glasses and looked back over the roster._

"Ah yes, now I remember. Everyone, we have a new student to introduce today if you haven't noticed."

_What a weird way to speak… must be an english teacher or something…_

"Mr.Omosu, please come to the front and give us a little about yourself. I'm sure the class would love to meet you."

_Well, this is just fantastic. I'm already about to look like a fool…_

_Regardless, I strolled up to the front, eyes staring from everywhere. Quietly, I did my best to calm down._

"u um… nice to meet all of you… i'm sunny…"

"Hmm? Kid, can you please speak up a little? I don't think anyone heard that."

"r...right."

_I calmed down as much as possible._

"I-I'm Sunny Omosu! Pleasure to meet all of you. I… don't talk much so i'm sorry…"

_The last bit kind of trailed a little too quietly as I lost my nerve a bit. Why the hell is speaking so difficult?"_

"Well, Mr.Omosu, I'm sorry If I put you on the spot a bit there, I'll do my best not to from now on. Please take a seat so we can begin our morning announcements."

_Quietly I walked back to my seat and sat down._

"Anyway, as most of you know the school festival is around the corner, it's in 2 weeks, and as much as I'm a patient teacher as you all know, I still expect every one of you to at least try and get your work done for the week. So…"

_The teacher's words trailed on as I sat there, not much of it really sticking with me._

_As I sat there, I simply glanced around the room, seeing nothing but unfamiliar faces in the sea of classmates._

_That was to be expected though, I mean I just moved._

_That… that is going to be a problem isn't it._

_I mean, it's not like I'm not used to being on my own, but I doubt it'll do me any favors here. Maybe I should try to talk to someone?_

_"u um…" I turned to one classmate, trying to get their attention. They didn't seem to notice, half asleep._

_"hey… are you…" Again, the next person didn't notice. Giving up, I sighed and sat there. Quickly, my first period of class ended._

_I'm gonna have a rough time here, aren't I?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Unbeknownst to Sunny, a girl with Peachy, almost red hair was looking at him with curiosity. Assuming he likely didn't want to be bothered, she simply left class with everyone at the bell, not saying a word._

_"Nah, that can't be…"_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_As the day passed, Lunch quickly arrived. Sunny wasn't the type to eat much, usually at best eating one meal a day, and at worst, going without eating for days. Still, it would seem this school didn't exactly have many places to go during such a time._

_Although he considered going to the library to study ahead of time, he really didn't feel up to it at the moment, and as such felt no real reason to go anywhere else._

_As such, he simply paid for some food, went to the back of the cafeteria and sat at an empty table._

_However, as Sun y sat there, he couldn't help but feel like someone was quietly watching him._

_Sunny knew well that he had many hallucinations, and they came with such feelings. Recently though, the Hallucinations had become a bit less common thankfully._

_Still, that feeling always bothered Sunny. Cautious, he turned around._

_..._

_Oh. It's just some girl staring at me._

_A really small girl with Pink hair was looking at me for some reason. She then noticed me looking and quickly turned around._

_Curious, and with nothing better to do, I decided to investigate._

_I walked over to the same table and sat down._

_Suddenly, she looked over._

_"G-Gah! Where did you come from? I-I thought… Please don't walk up on me like that!"_

_Oh… well so much for a good first impression._

_She looked up again._

"Uh… Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Just don't do that… I don't even know you."

_I nodded and continued to quietly sit._

_This was kinda awkward to say the least._

_…_

_After a moment she spoke up._

"Well? Aren't you gonna introduce yourself or something? You walked over here for that right?"

_I breathed in. She seems a bit… prickly. Like a cactus._

_...I always found it odd when Basil compared Kel to a cactus like that._

"Hello? Are you listening? I'm trying to be nice here Patchy and you're just spacing off!"

"s-sorry."

"H-Huh?"

"i'm sunny. i-it's nice to meet you."

_She paused for a moment._

_(He's even quieter than Yuri…) she quietly commented to herself, barely audible._

"Um, sorry about being rude there if I was… you have a hard time talking, don't you? I have a friend… er, well someone I want to be friends with that's like that…"

_Her face went a little red._

"D-Don't you dare tell anyone I said that, got it?"

_I nodded. Keeping secrets is something I can actually do…_

_...Well, now I feel like garbage._

"H-Hey, I'm sorry ok? I'm not trying to be mean, I just…"

_I breathed in._

"It's ok, I just was thinking about something. I just don't talk much."

"Oh… Alright, I get that. I'll try to not snap if you don't respond, then, n-not that I expect to see you much…"

_She kinda trailed off at the end._

_"Oh, by the way, I'm Natuski. Natsuki Aito, if you prefer last names. A lot of people here are Japanese immigrants, so some of us still like to do the last name thing."_

"Natsuki… thank you."

"Huh? Oh, no problem."

_Once again we went back to sitting there quietly._

_Well, at least i met a new acquaintance. She seems alright, just a bit easy to snap at people. If anything, she reminds me a little of Aubrey… hmm._

_Well, I guess that means I won't just be completely on my own then. Maybe I can meet new people after all._

_…_

_As I sat there, I noticed Natsuki eyeing the lunch sitting in front of me. As I looked up, I noticed she didn't have one of her own. Looking again, she's kinda small, isn't she? Like I am…_

_Well, it's not like I planned on eating this._

_Quietly I spun my try around and passed it to her._

"Huh? Why are you…?"

_She looked kinda agitated at first._

"A-Are you trying to make fun of me? Is it because I'm small?"

_I shook my head, mostly at the first part. I can't deny the second half sadly._

_Not that I'd say that out loud._

_She kinda grimaced for a moment, then looked contemplative._

"Are you sure? Don't you need to eat anything?"

_I shook my head._

"W-Well if you insist, It's not like i want to be rude and refuse…"

_Lunch continued on until the bell._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Hmph… What a weird boy…_

_He's really quiet for some reason and doesn't exactly scream "giving" type energy, and yet…_

_...Maybe it's because he's in a similar situation… he seems kinda small too after all… But still…_

_...Thank you, Sunny. That was a nice gesture for someone you just met._

_Heh, not like I could ever actually say that…_

_...Also what the hell is up with the eyepatch? Is he ok?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_With lunch over, the second half of the day began._

_Thankfully, I hadn't really ran into any rude people or done anything embarrassing so far to ruin the day, well besides this morning._

_Still, it's not exactly been a good day either. I've only talked to one person and that was kinda hit-or-miss if I'm honest…_

_Maybe I should-_

_*_ **_beep_ ** _*Calling Sunny Omosu To the principal's office! Sunny Omosu To the principal's office. *_ **_beep_ ** _*_

_Great… What happened?_

_Silently I made my way up the hall toward the office I was being called to._

_As I arrived, the receptionist said that the principle was already speaking with someone so I needed to wait a moment._

_Nervously, I quietly sat there, unsure of what would happen. Then, after a moment the door opened and a girl walked out._

_She had Emerald eyed and Brown hair, and seemed to almost be leaning over as she came out of the door._

"Oh, you must be new here? Are you Sunny?"

_I nodded and she smiled._

"Well, they called you here to set you up with a tutor since you are a bit behind. She's actually a good friend of mine in a club I run."

_She started walking off but stopped for a moment._

"Oh! Sorry for almost rushing off without giving a name, I'm suuuper busy during the day. I'm Monika Banks, But Monika is just fine. Look forward to seeing you!"

_With that, Monika rushed off._

_Hmm, she seems nice, but i probably won't see her much if she's that busy. Must be a student aid or something._

_With that, I looked back to the door, anxiety flaring._

_….I'm sure it's fine, like she said I'm just getting tutored._

_I walked forward, but a bit slowly._

_...Why is this door making me so anxious?_

_There's nothing wrong._

_I calmed myself down…_

_And opened the door._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"Ah, good morning Mr.Omosu, or do you prefer Sunny?"

_As I sat with the principle, the small looking boy stood at the doorway, with an odd expression_.

"Sunny? Please come in and have a seat."

_Breathing kinda heavily, the boy came in and sat down. At first glance, he didn't look to have any kind of expression, but I could see past it a bit._

_In his eye, spaced out, was unbridled fear..._

_Just… what did this boy see before coming in?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_"S u n n y. . ."_

_"I love you Sunny."_

_As Sunny stared into the doorway, he could see Mari's misshapen figure sitting in the chair across from the man he assumed was the principle._

_As he stared, terror took over as he fought to breathe and think._

"Sunny? Please come in and have a seat."

_"I miss you Sunny..."_

_Unsure of what to do, he sat down in his chair, terrified. As he did, It looked directly at him._

_Its eye stared. My own blurred._

_I… i thought I stopped this… i thought you wanted me to tell everyone… I…_

_Suddenly, the vision vanished._

_Replacing it was the man who was speaking apparently, and Mari… No, not Mari, a girl sitting there._

"So, Sunny, I want you to meet Mrs.Bennington here. She is going to be your tutor to help you get further caught up."

_The girl looked at me._

"U-Um, according to the practice t-test you did, you got placed on a Ninth grade level, but you s-should be at least a year further. S-so I'm going to help you get caught up..."

_The girl seemed overly nervous about everything. It seems like she might even be more anxious about this than I am…_

"So, Instead of your last period, Yuri here will be tutoring you for a while. I'd do this after school, but Yuri is a top student and insisted she would be able to get all of her other work done and also help you with your own if need be."

"Normally I wouldn't do this kind of thing, but another top student vouched for her as well, and honestly I feel like if you do this all after school, you aren't going to catch up. I know kids and afterschool activities…" _the man stated gruffly._

"Alright, that's It. It's about to be 7th period, so head up to class 4-B. You guys can work in the back of Mr.Roll's class."

_I nodded and the girl, Yuri stood up and motioned to me._

"Best of luck Mr.Omosu. I trust you'll be caught up soon."

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Pretty soon, the bell rang and we made our way to the designated class._

_Yuri quietly talked to the teacher, who said that he was already aware of the tutoring arrangement._

_As such, we sat at a round table in the back, and before I knew it, Yuri had brought out countless books._

"From your scores, I noticed that you seem to be able to write relatively well, English shouldnt be much of a problem for now. Your biggest issues seem to be History, Math, and Science, Especially Math and Science…"

_Yuri seemed really focused into her role as a tutor. Honestly though, I couldn't help but be glad._

_If she really is taking this as seriously as it looks, maybe I do have a chance after all._

"Anyway, Sunny, would you mind telling me how much you know about Biology?"

_I kinda sat there silently._

_As sad as it was to admit, the closest thing he experienced to 'science' in his room was the stuff he dreamed up around Humphrey the whale… Although he couldn't exactly say that out loud._

"i.i...i uh…"

_Yuri looked curious for a moment._

"U-um, are you ok?"

_She looked a little worried._

_Once more, I breathed in to speak. Honestly, I have no clue how I was even able to tell my friends what I did if I can't even answer simple questions…_

"I-uh… i have a very difficult time speaking…"

"O-Oh… is it anxiety?"

"i-i'm unsure…"

_I really don't know the exact reason why I struggle with speaking, honestly. It's just something that I sadly can't do._

_Yuri paused for a minute, then her eyes lit up._

_She pulled out a sheet of paper and passed it to me._

"I-If it feels any better, you can just write down what you want to say. I-I don't know if that helps, but…"

_Thinking about it, that's actually a smart idea. I don't know why I didn't invest in a notepad or something…_

_...Then again, it's not like I exactly *wanted* to speak much before… But I suppose I can always change._

_I wrote on the paper._

_[Thank you. I hadn't considered this before.]_

_Yuri's eyes lit up for a second before going back to normal. Then, she shyly replied._

"O-Oh… well… i'm glad I could help."

_She stiffened up._

"A-Anyway! Let's continue. What do you know about Biology?"

[I know about Whales]

"H-Huh? I uh…huh?"

_Yuri looked really confused._

[Sorry, It's an inside joke. I don't know much of anything, so I wanted to make a joke of it.]

"O-Oh… Well I see… We have a lot of work to do then."

_Yuri smiled and continued, and focused into it, the rest of the day flew by._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Well, that day wasn't too bad after all I guess._

_I mean it wasn't perfect, but at least it wasn't bad for a first day back._

_Thinking back, I made three main acquaintances. Weird that they were all girls though…_

_There was Natsuki, the girl at lunch. They seem kinda snappy, but don't seem like a bad person._

_Then there was Monika, that one busy girl. I don't know much, but from that shirt interaction she seemed nice._

_Finally, Yuri is my new Tutor. She seems to be a bit reserved, but very focused, at least when it comes to the tutoring thing. At least I can count on her for help._

_All 3 seemed like decent people, so that's nice. Maybe one of them could be a future friend._

_…_

_Sunny thought about that for a second._

_"Do… Do I even deserve to have new friends? After what I did?"_

_Sunny's pessimism kicked back in for a moment. After all, it was never gone entirely, just overcame somewhat._

_The thing about negative thoughts is they don't ever completely go away. You'll always have to fight them._

_...I deserve friends. I mean, I have friends. I have Basil still… And I'm sure someday the others will come around._

_What does it matter if I make new friends?_

_"I… I've changed."_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Suddenly, Sunny noticed a faint noise. Piano quietly playing in the background._

_Noticing this, he walked off in a hurry._

_What he didn't notice however Was the Peachy-red haired girl watching him from around a corner._

"You've changed, huh? After 'what you did'?"

_She sighed._

"Maybe you are back after all this time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_As he quietly walked home, Sunny couldn't help but feel a bit unsure._

_His anxiety and other problems had re-emerged, and yet stuff still felt better._

_Hmm… Here's to hoping that everything will be ok in the end._

"HEEEEYYYYYY! WAIT UP!"

_"!!!"_

_Sunny couldn't help but reel a bit in shock from the girl yelling and running up from the distance._

_"You…! *hah* *hah* I need to… *hah* talk to you…!"_

_The girl seemed to be gasping for air. In a way he was very much reminded of Hero, although this girl definitely wasn't as pristine as he was. Unbuttoned jacket, messy hair, this girl looked like she'd been through a hurricane. Somehow though, despite this Sunny couldn't help but find them… Cute? Was that the right word?_

_"I… sorry, It's been a while since I had to do that…"_

_The girl suddenly jumped up in my face._

_"But that doesn't excuse you ignoring me like that!"_

_Huh? What the heck?_

_"Y-You leave out of nowhere and come back without even talking to me?"_

_As Sunny looked, he could see that the girl was beginning to cry._

_"W-Why? Didn't you know how much I missed you MC? I thought you cared!"_

_The girl began yelling, but Sunny simply sat there._

_Clearly she is mistaking me for someone else. But…_

_She clearly needs to get this off her chest. I won't interrupt her._

_"WHY? W-Why did you leave me? We were best friends and you just vanished! I thought you died! Why did you do this to me?"_

_"I… I loved you…" she stated between sobs._

_Sunny felt pretty bad. This poor girl, what did someone do to them?_

_It must've taken someone awful to destroy someone like this. I know from experience._

_Suddenly, out of nowhere the girl hugged me, still sobbing. Knowing they clearly needed it, I hugged back._

_Then, a second later she stepped away._

_"W-Why MC? Why won't you even speak to me? Am I just that bad? Do you hate me?"_

_Knowing deep down, this was truly needed, I became able to speak._

"I'm sorry for what this person did to you."

"H-Huh?"

"I'm… I'm not the person you think I am."

"B-But! You said 'I've changed.' I've done something wrong!' Were you not even listening to yourself back at school?"

_Oh… I spoke out loud? Thats rare…_

"I must've said what I was thinking… And I did do something bad in the past… but…"

"You… you really aren't him, are you…"

_The girl began to cry again._

"I… I should've known. I probably pushed him away… why would he come back?"

"For what it's worth, I don't think you caused that…"

"Of course I did! I mean look at me! I just ran up to a random person that just happened to look like him and started crying and yelling at you!" 

"I'm… I'm a selfish person who didn't deserve to have friends to begin with. I'm a waste of space."

_She's… She's blaming herself for this._

"You aren't a bad person. I've only just met you and I can tell you that much."

"Why?" _She cried out._ _"Why are you even saying this?"_

_She began sobbing again._

"Just leave before I hurt you like I did him."

"No. You need a friend right now more than anything, I can see that."

"H-Huh?" _That kinda confused the girl._

"What's your name?"

"I-It shouldn't matter but… I'm Sayori… Sayori Yoshitomi…"

_Alright, this isn't exactly easy for me to do quickly, but…_

_Maybe this is the world's way of atoning for what I did?_

_Either way, this girl, Sayori… She needs help right now._

"Well, Sayori. If you don't mind it, I want to be friends with you."

"E-eh? But Why? I'd just weigh you down. I mean I literally just yelled at you. Don't you hate me now…?"

"No, I'm serious. And it's fine, I… i pride myself in being a good listener."

_I gave a smile._

_Sayori continued sobbing for a little bit before calming down. Then, she spoke up._

"What… What is your name?"

"Sunny. Sunny Omosu."

"S-Sunny…"

_She paused and lightly laughed, still shaking._

"H-heh, the world has a sense of humor, doesn't it…"

_She stopped._

"I… I'm unsure what to say."

_Sayori wiped her eyes clean and looked at me seriously._

"I… I never expected this would be how this would go. W-When as I saw you and thought you were… I lost it a bit."

_Sayori gave a sad smile._

"I uh… I don't even know what i was planning there… I wasn't looking for an answer or closure even… it just… it hurt and I wanted it all to stop."

_That last comment gave me a bit of a chill._

"I… I don't know much about you Sunny, but I owe you for putting up with my… Unfair behaviour…"

"Y-You don't owe me anything. That's what friends are f-for right?"

_Sayori paused._

"So, you do mean it? You actually do want to be friends?"

"Y-Yes. I want to get to know you."

_Sayori gave a sad smile._

"Well, alright then. I'd be happy to be your friend, too Sunny."

_Sayori looked down._

"Ah, i've held you from getting home, haven't I? I-"

"i-it's fine sayori, it was worth it in the long run."

_She laughed lightly._

"If you want I can walk you home. You uh, you actually live across the street from me."

_I tried to give my best smile._

"sure!"

"You've gotten a little quieter…"

_I breathed in._

"Sorry, I have a hard time speaking when it isn't super important…"

"Oh, I see! So you're usually quiet?"

_Sayori's disposition changed into a bit of a more happy one._

"That's fine with me, I won't make you talk if you don't want, hehe.."

_I shook my head and tried to speak, but it came out garbled._

"i… note… book."

"Ok, so you like to use paper to talk? That's fine then!"

_We kept walking, with her almost skipping along as I walked._

_Soon we reached our houses, and she walked up to me._

"So, I guess this is goodbye until tomorrow then!"

_I must've cocked my head a little because she replied. She must be somewhat perceptive…_

"Oh, I guess you didn't know, but we share a homeroom and English! I just didn't bother you because, well… You know."

_Sayori paused for a moment._

"Hey, I just want to say thank you. I… I wasn't doing good today, and usually I don't like to show that side to people. You seem nice though, so I really am glad you offered to be friends like that…"

_She put on a smile again quickly._

"Anyway, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow Sunny!"

_I smiled again, though this time I actually didn't have to make myself do it._

"see… you."

_We went our separate ways._

_…_

_As I walked into my new house, I quickly went straight to my room as usual._

_Still yet to be unpacked, I simply sat on my bed and stared at the ceiling._

_"I guess I did make a friend today."_

_It's ironic how things work in the world, isn't it?_

_The moment I doubted I deserved friends, the world kinda forced one on me. Not that I'm complaining._

_So Sayori… i don't know much yet besides that she seems to have been really hurt by this MC person who left. She seems to be a rather sad person, but the last bits seemed a bit too chipper in a way._

_Maybe she's just acting? Or Perhaps it's more complex than that. Either way, I'll figure it out._

_This MC situation is complex, but i really wanna help with this. Something is telling me I need to help._

_She seems so… Pure? Something like that. Something inside me is saying I need to protect them._

_*sigh.*_

_Jeese, it's been like 3 days. I've been here and one day of school and I'm already worried about someone._

_I guess that's just how life is, huh? Not like I mind._

_I'll just do what I can. After all, I'm sure this is what Mari would have wanted from me._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Why?_

_Why?_

_Why Why Why Why!?!?_

_Why did this have to happen? Why wasn't it him?_

_If it was MC it could've all been over with there… if he had come back then I wouldn't have any doubts left…_

_So why? Why did the world punish me like this? Why did it give me a nice person that looks just like him? Why couldn't the world have just let everything stop?_

_Why did they have to forgive me? Why did they have to ask to be my friend like that? Why did they even have any concerns for someone as awful as me?"_

_I… i just don't understand!_

_I… I just…_

_...I wish you hadn't left me all alone…_

_Why is the world so mean?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

…

Welcome to Whitespace

You have been here as long as you can remember.

…

_Whitespace. The void. Omori's domain._

_It was a section of Sunny's mind that would never leave. Like Omori, it could be weakened and overcome, but it would never return._

_Just like how the truth would always remain, the creation of it made to suppress itself would remain._

_Omori himself sat as usual, laying down looking up. The only change being the current lack of the lightbulb. That, however, Omori knew would change._

_He could feel it reforming, The Headspace beyond the white door._

_It wasn't ready of course, but he knew that sooner or later, be it a week or a day, it would be finished, Bringing with it new struggles._

_Inevitably, as always, it would come to Omori to protect Sunny from his harsh reality outside. It was the reason he was made, why he couldn't cease to be._

_Once it was time, a new lightbulb would manifest, and his task would begin once again. That would be the day the door once again reopened._

_For now, however, Omori simply waited._

_His time would come soon._

_*_ **_2 weeks left until the festival._ **

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_


	2. Chapter 2

_Waking up, Sunny quickly made his way to the bathroom mirror._

_Weird as it may be, it was always an odd habit of his. He always felt like something was over his shoulder after all, so it only made sense to check every once in a while._

_Regardless, looking back at him wasn't any eldritch horror, it was just him. On the mirror was a posted note from his mom, saying to make sure to brush his teeth and go to school and everything._

_...Mom wasn't around much nowadays, though Sunny knew deep down that she cared still, she was just in a lot of pain still too. At the very least she didn't leave him behind or anything, Sunny thought._

_...Sunny decided not to think about that any further, quietly brushing his teeth and getting dressed._

_Looking at his clock, he realized he had wasted too much time, quickly rushing out the door. He began sleepwalking down the way until-_

_"Heeeyyy! Wait for me!"_

_Sunny watched a girl running in the distance, flailing her arms around and running like a madman._

_That girl is Sayori, a new friend to Sunny. Actually, they had just met yesterday, although something seemed… different this time around._

_Patient as always, Sunny idled at the crosswalk despite being late, waiting for Sayori to catch up._

_"H-Hi… *heh* Sunny! *heh*"_

_Sayori keeled over for a second._

"Whew, you gave me a workout for 2 days in a row! Guess that should be a good thing though!"

_Sayori oddly seemed to be glowing today, a total contrast to what Sunny had experienced yesterday. It was almost like she was a totally different person and yet, Sunny could feel she was the same._

"Oh! Right!" _Sayori began walking as something popped into her head, Sunny keeping up._

"Um, this might seem weird since I don't know what kind of stuff you do normally, but I was wondering if you wanted to walk to school together from now on, you know, since we're friends now?"

_Sunny considered it for a moment. It really wasn't a hassle or anything, and she lived across the street, so why not?_

"No pressure though! I just thought it's more fun than walking alone every day…"

_Sunny pondered this for a moment, and calmly got himself to speak up._

"i don't mind but… what about your other friends?"

_Sayori seemed a little caught off guard by that. She sighed and made a bit of an awkward face._

"My friends live down the other way from the school, so I never really had the chance…"

_Sunny calmed down again._

"i don't mind then. if it makes you comfortable, then sure."

_Sayori sprung up and suddenly hugged Sunny._

_"Thank you Thank you Thank you! Ah, you have no idea how tired i was of-"_

_Sayori sprung off and looked concerned for a second._

"I uh, sorry it's a force of habit."

_Sunny smiled._

"don't worry. you just remind me of someone."

"Eh? Did you have a childhood friend too?"

_Sunny's smile faltered a little for a second._

"I uh… yes. i had a group of friends before i moved…"

_Sayori bounced a little._

"Im sure they are great! I'd love to meet them someday!"

_Sayori seemed not to notice as Sunny gave a bit of a sad smile and kept walking._

_In reality though, she could see that very clearly._

_(So… something happened to you too. No wonder you tried to help me…)_

_(Well, don't worry, I'll be there for you like the others! After all, you did help me…)_

_(It's up to me to keep everyone happy after all. So don't worry Sunny, i'm here now.)_

_Sayori smiled and kept walking, glad to finally have a friend again._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I guess isn't so bad._

_Sure, I kinda got put on the spot yesterday, but i'll be fine._

_Sunny was definitely in a good mood, but he couldn't understand why._

_It was strange, as the best he could do was being neutral at home. Sure, sadness and anger came to him still, but Happiness was very illusive._

_So, why do I feel happy? Is it because of this girl? I mean that's the one big change i guess…_

_It's weird, she radiates positive energy… it's almost the total opposite of what I saw yesterday…_

_Hmm, that must mean this MC guy really did its toll. That or she is an excellent actor, or both._

_Well, either way, It's a nice feeling._

"Hey, Sunny!"

_Sayori had managed to swap desks in such a way she was sitting next to me. It made it easier to talk, and thankfully the teacher didn't mind as it was homeroom, and apparently he prided himself in being one of those "cool." Teachers, whatever that means._

"yes?"

"I was wondering if you'd thought about joining any clubs around the school?"

_Sunny thought about it._

_Realistically, he could use the time out of the house, and he needs to get used to being outside again. A club could certainly help, although part of Sunny liked the freedom he had._

"I was just asking, there's no pressure, there's just a lot of interesting ones!"

"You know, like the Literature Club, the Baking Club, the Science Club, the Literature Club, the Chess Club, the Music Club, the Literature club, Theatre. All great options!"

_Something tells me Sayori wants me to join the literature club._

[I'll think about it.] _I quietly wrote and shifted a paper to her._

_In response she drew a tiny doodle of what I can only assume to be a dog on the paper and handed it back, smiling._

_Actually, thinking about it, I haven't written much yet, I've been talking quite a bit to Sayori here…_

_That's odd, I couldn't even do that with my close friends; Well, besides Basil and… Mari…_

_...Hmm, I guess she just knows how to make people comfortable? With how perceptive She is, I need to watch put In case she tries to manipulate me, not that I expect anything really._

_Why on earth am I complimenting her so much? I've only known her for a day?_

_Hmm, maybe I should focus on something else._

_Quietly, I open my_

"Sunny, it's me Kel!"

_"Huh?"_

_Looking out the window, in surprise, I saw Kel, basketball shirt and all._

_"Yo Sunny, I just came by to check on how you are doing. You should totally come out here with me and tell me how everything has been going."_

_Sunny thought about it for a moment, looking around and finding it odd nobody, not even Sayori had stirred at his friends' arrival._

_"Oh, I think I get it now."_

_Kel smiled a wide grin. Then, as I watched , his eyes went black._

_"_ **_You've forgotten about us already, right?_ ** _"_

_Blinking, I noticed he was gone. I must've been hyperventilating because Sayori tapped me on the shoulder._

_"Um Sunny? Are you ok? You look even paler than usual and I didn't think that was humanly possible."_

_I calmed down and wrote on the paper._

[I hallucinate bad things sometimes.]

_Sayori frowned and drew a frowny face on the paper, then she patted me on the back._

_"Everything is ok now. Don't worry."_

_…_

_Wait a second; why did I even say that? I don't admit that kind of stuff usually?_

_Am I opening up too quick or something?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Now it was lunch, and once again I found the same girl from the day before._

_Since she didn't know about the paper thing, I decided I'd show her._

_[Hi Natsuki._

_My tutor suggested I use a paper to talk easier since I can't speak much._

_How are you today?]_

_Natsuki quickly read over the paper, mumbling something to herself._

_(Like Komi-san?)_

_She then looked up, grinning a little._

"I'm doing alright, things weren't too bad last night, and today has been pretty good too." 

"By the way, the paper idea was actually super smart, so you should thank whoever told you that."

_I nodded, although a bit of the wording there concerned me a bit. Still, I could be overreading._

[Are you hungry? I usually only eat once a day, so I'm fine giving you my lunch again if it helps.]

_Natsuki looked a little shocked and reluctant, but clearly didn't have a choice._

"S-Sure, since you offered. I'm not hungry or anything, but it'd be polite to decline…"

_How fast she ate lunch said otherwise._

_Something tells me something is wrong here, but It'd be rude to interject or ask out. In the open. Maybe another day…_

_[So, what is the school like? I was out of school for a few years so I missed middle school due to a]_

_I decided to stop writing there, but couldn't go back and fix it._

"Wait, how many years of school did you miss?"

_I held up 4 fingers._

"W-What the hell? My dad'd kill me if I missed one day of school, let alone 4 years! How on earth did that happen?"

_I… i shouldn't lie but I also don't want to admit this all just yet… maybe whenever i figure what's going in with her we can exchange stories on it._

[I'm sorry, but I can't say right now. Maybe another day.]

_Natsuki pouted at this, but she didn't protest._

"I can understand not wanting to talk about some stuff, It's fine. Still, you really are gonna have to work to catch up that much…"

[That's why I have a tutor. They are helping me catch up on what I missed.]

"Oh, you mentioned that earlier. Is it Monika or something?"

[No, though i've met her once.]

"Yeah, she's really active around the school. A great president too!"

"president?" _I asked, catching Natsuki a bit off guard._

"Oh, yeah she is the president of the literature club. It's a club I'm in with a few friends."

_Natsuki made a wide grin._

"I'd invite you, but you're a boy. All of the members are girls right now."

_The Literature Club? That's the second time i heard that today._

[May I ask, who else is in it?]

_Natsuki continued having a teasing grin._

"Scouting out targets ey? Well I wouldn't suggest that."

_She dropped the grin and continued._

"But uh, It's just 4 of us. Me, Monika, Sayori and Yuri. I know you know two of us, but Sayori's kinda quiet usually and I don't see Yuri much outside of the club, so you might not know them."

_I quickly scribbled on the paper._

[Yuri is my tutor and Sayori lobes across the street from me.]

"What the? _How did you meet the entire club already?"_

_[luck?]_

_Natsuki got agitated at that, stole the paper away and crumpled it up._

"Lucky now?"

_Suddenly she kinda looked down a bit._

"Uh, sorry that was really mean… I…"

"It's ok." _I said, giving a smile._

_Turning a bit red, she quickly spoke._

"I um uh, I need to go do some homework, so I'll see you around!"

_I tried to say 'see ya later' but before I could get the words out, Natsuki had already sped off to who knows where._

_Man, the people are so odd here…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Once again the day sped by._

_Honestly school never changes does it? It's always just slow or fast in a cycle, waiting for the day to be done._

_At least here I've got some people to talk to, although sometimes It's a bit less than ordinary._

_"Heyyyyy…" I noticed Sayori scoot closer._

_"I kinda forgot my wallet at home, but i wanted to get a snack at the vending machine between periods. Can you give me a dollar? I'll pay you back, promise."_

_I shook my hand and handed a dollar over, knowing full well that I will never see it again._

"Thanks! You're a good friend!"

_It's weird how fast people can grow on you sometimes._

_Then again, when you've been inside a house for almost 4 years. With your mind, you tend to connect a tiny bit faster to stuff you want to relate to._

* **knock knock** *

_"Ah yes? Come in."_

_As I watched the door, Monika walked in. Quietly she walked over to Sayori and began talking about something. Since they were whispering I couldn't hear anything._

_Since I was already done with my work, I quietly took out my phone, deciding to check up on Basil._

_Basil from what I know is doing better, but I can't say for absolute sure._

_He certainly sounds happier over messages._

_| Basil- So, how was school?_

_|Sunny- Sorry for the late reply, got caught up with stuff yesterday. Going well, how are you?"_

_|Basil- Oh hey Sunny_

_|Basil- Glad to hear it, things are ok over here._

_|Sunny- How are the others?_

_|Basil- I haven't seen Hero or Kel out of the house since I got back home, but I did see Aubrey._

_|Basil- She says she just needs some time to think before she talks to either me or you, but she understands what happened._

_Sayori- So, what happened?_

_Suddenly I turned around to see Sayori staring over my shoulder at my phone._

_In surprise, I dropped my phone, but thankfully it landed on the back and didn't break._

_"i uh… i i uh…"_

_I really didn't know what to say._

_Sayori frowned._

"It's something personal isn't it? A reason as to why you and your friends aren't talking."

_She looked up._

"Sorry for being Nosy, I'm just trying to figure out how I can help you. I can kinda tell you need it."

_I need help? That's not new news, but it's odd to think we got to this point from yesterday…_

_Sayori chuckled a little._

"I'm sorry if It's confusing, but you proved to me yesterday you are a good person, and I always try to look out for my friends. So, whenever you wanna talk just let me know."

_What the hell is up with this girl?_

_Why do they seem so interested in helping? I mean I know I was nice yesterday and all, but it feels like this all has progressed weirdly fast…_

_Regardless of that, class quickly came to a close as I went off to go meet Yuri._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_"It's weird."_

_"Huh? What was that Sayori?"_

"You remember MC right?"

"H-Huh? Mickey?"

"Of course, all three of us were friends back then and him and I shared a few classes. Why do you ask?"

"He vanished one day out of nowhere, his whole family left, and he didn't even tell me where he went."

"It devastated me for a very long time to be without him. I mean, he was the closest friend I had since I was a little kid. It was something I never got used to."

"...I... Trust me Sayori, I understand how you feel..."

"Here's the thing, Sunny here reminds me a lot of Mickey. And yesterday I… i wasn't in a very good state, and yet he suddenly showed up."

_Monika frowned._

"Really? I mean I guess they look pretty similar..."

_Sayori gave a bit of a smile._

"Do you think… this is the world's way of giving him back?"

"Huh!?! W-well… I'm uh..."

"Sorry Monika, just a thought. It's just that they give the same energy. Either way, It's nice to have a real friend like that again."

"But you've only known this Sunny guy for 2 days right? Isn't it a bit fast to assume that?"

"Well yeah, but that doesn't make it any less nice. I feel happy again, it's... Been a while since I could say that."

"Well, I'm happy for you then."

...

"Ah, I lost track of Time, I'm gonna go see what he's up to before class ends!"

"See you at club Sayori!"

"Yep!"

_Monika looked over at Sunny quietly._

_If she sees him in you, you'd better hope you can handle that._

_...I know Sayori is a handful, but she needs help now more than ever._

...

_I'll check up on him later and learn a bit about him. It'd be nice if Sayori was right after all..._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"Alright, so algebra can get pretty complicated, but I think it'll be an easier thing for me to teach you since it's mostly a combination of learning how variables react, like advanced multiplication tables."

_Nodding along, Sunny listened in close to his instructor, trying to take in every word he could. After all, Sunny really was trying to make sure this all worked out in the end._

_Yuri was a good teacher thankfully, very smart and patient, he looked up to that, and since she herself was rather reserved, she seemed to know ways to work around his personal issues._

_He was thankful to have been paired up with someone quite similar in that regard, since otherwise he might have had a harder time talking when he had problems._

_"So, lets begin with a simple example,_

_X - 1 = Y._

_When you look at it, It's a simple problem, however unlike normal math problems, you aren't finding the solution, you are finding all of the possibilities of it._

_In this case, you could start with 0 and work your way up._

_With 0 as X here, Y = -1, with 1 its 0 and so on."_

_Yuri smiled._

_"Now, you try."_

In front of me, she wrote a problem.

32X×2X^2+147=3y-14

"It should be easy for you now."

_I stammered a bit, trying to think of what to say and she chuckled a little._

"I'm sorry, you seemed focused so i wanted to make a joke. Being focused is good but you also need to not stress so much."

_She began writing a new, far easier problem while she spoke._

"Personally it's why I keep a Tea set in my clubroom, it's good for stress relief when you want to read."

[Oh right, you are in the literature club right?]

"Ah, I guess my statement there gave that away, right? It's a nice place to read with some peace and quiet. "

"O-Oh… right I uh…"

_Yuri seemed to reach for something, but started tensing up a bit._

"N-Nevermind, It's nothing."

[Are you sure?]

"Y-Yes, I'm sure. A-After all, it's not like I could read it with you here in class… er I mean-"

_Yuri seemed to get kinda stressed all of a sudden._

_"don't worry, it's ok Yuri."_

_"Ahhh… Sorry, I lost a bit of focus today…"_

_Yuri shook her head and turned back to me._

"Let's keep working. This one i'm _certain we can use."_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_The day ended before I knew it, and quietly I wandered out into the hall, thinking of what to do once I got home._

_Before I could finish that thought however, I was startled as someone swung in front of me._

_"Ah, Sunny. Just who I was looking for."_

_Monika, as when i first saw her, was bent over in a way, Towering over me a bit. Oddly, although she still felt nice she felt a bit more… intimidating this time._

_"So, I figured since you were new here I'd talk to you since i have a little free time."_

_Didn't she have a club to run?"_

_"So, would you mind following me?"_

_Confused and a bit unsure what would happen, I still continued forward. What's the worst that could happen?_

_…_

_She took me to the music room._

_…starting to play the piano as I cringed a little inside, she began to speak._

_"Sorry for multitasking, but I usually practice the piano for at least an hour a day, save for usually one day a week."_

_"Still, what's up with you? Are you enjoying the school so far?"_

_I nodded hesitantly. I feel like something is off for some reason. Or maybe I'm just a little uncomfortable around piano's nowadays._

_"Well that's great honestly. The staff here are really nice compared to a lot of other places, plus the other people here are pretty nice too."_

_"Have you made any friends yet?"_

_I nodded. Pulling out my paper, I wrote down_

_[I met your clubmates, they all seem nice.]_

_Monika smiled a little at that._

"Oh really? You've met all of them? That's nice. You know-"

_Suddenly the light seemed to cut out and the room went dark, save for Monika and the Piano._

_"-You've gotten pretty close to the people here, but what about your friends back home?"_

_Monika turned around, except it wasn't her. This time, it was Mari._

_"Don't you miss them?"_

_"i-i… i" I struggled to get the words out._

_Mari smiled._

"It's ok Sunny, I understand."

" **Just forget about us. That's what you want, right?** "

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…

_Welcome to White Space._

_You have been here as long as you can remember._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_"Oh really? You've met all of them?"_

_"That's nice. You know you could always join our club if you- Uh, Sunny?"_

_As Monika watched, Sunny's eyes Dilated while staring at her. Extreme fear seemed to be plastered over them, as if he was looking at something horrifying._

_"i-i…….i!"_

_Sunny seemed to be trying to say something, but before he could finish, he collapsed._

"Holy-! Someone call the nurse!"

_Acting quickly, Monika picked Sunny up and sprinted down the hall to the nurses office._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_In the realm of Whitespace, Omori had been awoken by a nightmare._

_You see, To Omori the real world was the one of dreams, while for Sunny it was Vice versa._

_Omori could always see what was going on with Sunny, no matter what, as to be expected from a protector._

_That's what he was of course, Sunny's guardian. He was always there to ensure the best for Sunny._

_He was never wrong of course, as he couldn't be. It was his job, and so it came to no surprise that the lightbulb was back once he returned. It, however, as always casting its dim darkness, was clearly a different kind then the one before._

_Omori checked the door. He could hear the others on the other side in the Neighbour's room, however, he knew it wasn't time to enter yet._

_Two days more days, he figured, and headspace would be complete once again. If he was to enter now, it would risk further instability, and Omori was anything but Impatient._

_Silently staring at the lightbulb, he prepared to do the deed needed to begin sleeping once again, and wake Sunny up._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"sunny! SUNNY! WAKE UP!"

_hUAH?_

Sunny sprung awake, confused as to when he went to sleep and where he was.

By his sides were Sayori and Monika, both with concerned expressions.

Sayori sprung at Sunny and hugged him so tightly he stopped being able to breathe.

"THANK GOD YOU ARE OK! What was that? Why'd you have to go and pass out like that!?"

_She let go, still looking extremely worried._

"I've known you for a single day and you almost died!"

_"i'm...fine…" I mumbled._

_As to if I am fine, I really have no idea._

_"U-Um Sunny?"_

_Monika spoke up. I looked at her._

"You kinda… you spaced out for a moment there… you looked like you were seeing things and then collapsed… Gave me a good scare too…"

_Sayori jumped in._

"Earlier you said you see scary stuff right? Did you see something this time?"

_Reluctantly, I nodded._

_"Can you try to draw it?" Monika suggested._

_"If it's too scary you don't have to, but maybe it'll help us figure out what's going on…"_

_Should I?_

_I mean I barely know Monika, and Sayori although she feels kinda close-ish I've only known for 2 days._

_Still, maybe it's for the best I start venting about this stuff… If i really want to make friends then…_

_Oh… that…_

_…_

_I really hope all of them are ok…_

_But, I need to focus on the present. They'll come back, I know it._

_Quickly, I drew *it.*_

_Something._

_Mari…_

_I mean, it wasn't what I saw that time, but... It's still them. And it'll make more sense like this._

"What on earth…?" _Monika looked more confused than anything._

_Sayori on the other hand looked afraid._

_"You… you see this thing on a regular basis then?"_

_I nodded._

_Sayori looked a little shocked._

"I… I'm sorry…"

_Huh?_

"I'm sorry about whatever you are going through. I… I wish i could help you."

_You sadly don't know yet._

_This thing was mine to begin with._

_I breathed in._

_"It's ok. That monster… Something... I've Had it for a long time, and it'll take a long time to go away. But… I'm fighting it, I promise."_

_"You're… you're!" Sayori seemed to have some sort of revelation._

_"I understand now… I think i get it."_

_"huh?"_

_"Don't worry I promise you I'll help you through this."_

_"Sayori? Are you-"_

_"I have a monster of my own. One I fight every day, one that keeps me from getting up on time or caring about a lot of things."_

_"I think most people have one in there somewhere, we just don't see it until the right thing happens to wake it up."_

_"I… lately I've been having a hard time fighting it myself. And it's hard to ask for help. But I promise i'll be there for you Sunny!"_

_"You gotta keep being strong ok?_

_"Promise me that."_

_..._

_I think that was the point realization kicked in._

_I… I understand why I felt so comfortable around her._

_She reminded me of someone very close to me after all, I just didn't notice._

_Sayori…_

_You remind me so much of Mari._

_..._

_No wonder I feel like that around you despite having barely known you…_

_and no wonder why…_

_I feel so guilty._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_That day, me and Sayori made a pact._

_No matter what happens, we'll both keep fighting our demons and keep going._

_Honestly, deep down I feel like She needed that too. Just a little push._

_She… Really is like Mari. She's kind, smart and looks out for her friends. But that doesn't mean she'll just replace Mari._

_I think that's what I've been fearing a bit, that if I made friends again this fast, I would forget everyone. Kel, Hero, Aubrey and Basil._

_However, I know deep down I won't just forget again. I won't become what I was before, because I've got friends behind me._

_Both old, and new._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_In white space, Omori could feel it._

_A presence had emerged in the headspace. Something new._

_Something…_

_*_ **_12 days left until the festival_ ** _*_


	3. Chapter 3

_…_

_Quietly waking up as usual, I made my way to the mirror._

_As usual, I could see my own reflection, nothing behind me or over my shoulder. Oddly though, I noticed my face was slightly less… Blank? Was that right?_

_Mari used to say I was cliff-faced back when she was around as a teasing gesture, but she wasn't wrong, I usually didn't give much expression unless I was around her._

_Lately though, I feel like I've been able to show more emotions. Maybe it's a sign of healing? Or growing up?_

_Whichever the case, I don't mind._

_..._

_So, Sayori. I'm supposed to meet her and head off to school soon, unless I'm already late…_

_Quickly checking the clock, I noticed I have about 10 minutes left, plenty of time to get to school._

_As such, I walked outside, waiting for Sayori to come out._

_…_

_It's been almost 8 minutes and I still haven't seen Sayori._

_Then again, she left after me yesterday, and I was already late._

_Regardless, I decided to go knock on the door to her house, to see if she was doing alright._

_*KNOCK Knock!*_

_"Huh? Is someone there? One sec I'll come down!"_

_Suddenly the door swung open and a Smiling face popped out._

"Sunny! Good morning, how are you?"

_I smiled, but knowing we were on a time crunch, I pointed to my phone's clock._

_"O-Oh! I must have overslept again! Hold on one second!"_

_She rushed back in, grabbing her jacket and a piece of bread, then rushed back out, locking the door, grabbing my hand and running off down the street._

_"Imphory bhati wrokuolateagne!" She muffled while eating the bread she had and jogging._

"Sorry, I was a little hungry ehe, never good to go to school on an empty stomach…"

_She jumped up, realizing something._

"Oh right! Have you thought about the whole club thing I talked about yesterday?"

_I thought about it for a second._

_Honestly, I really didn't mind the idea as I didn't have much going on otherwise._

_I mean, a club could be fun, and it'd help me get better at stuff._

_I nodded and Sayori pumped her fist a little._

"So, what club did you want to check out? There's a bunch of nice ones."

_Of course, it was kinda obvious she wanted me to join her club, and to me it was a bit of a no-brainer._

_I have a literal dreamworld's worth of stuff to write about after all, and most of the people i've met here are in the club."_

_I spoke up._

"I… I want to look at the Literature Club."

_"H-huh? Really? I-I mean-"_

_Sayori stuttered a little._

"I honestly never expected you'd pick that one on your own… but..." 

"I uh, even had a whole plan to try to lure you in with cupcakes and stuff… ehe…"

_Oh boy… that's gonna be interesting…_

_"B-but!" She jumped._

"I'm happy you decided that. Honestly I want to hang out more, and the Club would be a nice place to do that. Plus, the others are nice too!"

_I nodded._

_Smiling, and happy to be around my friend, I continued to school._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_The day rolled by even quicker than the others, so Lunch showed up. As usual, I went to meet up with Natsuki._

_Today, she seemed a little disheveled for whatever reason, but I decided to let it be._

_"hi… natsuki." I waved._

"Oh, hey Sunny."

_She looked down, once again no lunch, so I passed mine over without much thought._

"Don't you ever get hungry? I mean, you've given me your lunch 3 days in a row and I feel like one of those kids who bully people for their lunch money."

_I laughed a little and took out my new notepad._

[I eat at home, don't worry. I'm just not usually hungry.]

_I decided to draw a little steak on it for some reason, I guess habit. It looked bad so I scribbled it off._

"Ah, I see…" _Natsuki seemed bothered by that for some reason._

"W-Well anyway, you should still make sure to eat enough. I mean, look at you. You're Pale as a ghost, skinny as a skeleton, and even have the whole pirate thing with the eye patch. Are you like a fan of halloween or something?"

[No, i just had stunted growth for a while.]

"Ah…" She mumbled.

"W-well Patchy, it's not like I really care or anything, I'm just saying to look out for yourself. You seem nice, so it'd suck if I couldn't keep talking to you at lunch. Even if you *are* a boy…"

_That last comment felt a little tacked on there, but alright…_

_Also… uh._

[May I ask why you called me "Patchy?"]

"Huh?" _She looked surprised, but quickly pulled up a toothy grin._

"Oh, not a fan Patchy? I just thought it suited you since… you know…"

_She motioned at my face, clearly feeling a little bad._

"Eye… patch…"

_We sat there for a second._

"I'm kinda rude, Aren't I? It's no wonder why most people don't like me."

_I quickly drew a picture and message._

[You are like a cactus, resilient, nice on the inside, but a bit prickly.]

_"H-HEY! ARE YOU CALLING ME A PRICK!?"_

_I couldn't help but laugh, while Natsuki looked flustered almost._

"I-I'm not a cactus… *You're* a cactus, asshole…"

_Natsuki, pouting but seemingly relieved a little, sat quietly as we finished lunch._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_The day ended quickly as it came time to study with Yuri._

_As I was packing my stuff, Sayori waved and said_

"I'll come find you at the end of 7th period and show you where the club room is. So, I'll see you then Sunny!"

_With that, I met with Yuri, who was already sitting and waiting within the classroom, a set of history books next to her._

"So, we've started Math and science, I figure today we could look into history. Namely, we'll be talking about the Revolutionary war, since that's one of the first big Topics for 9th and 10th grade students."

_Listening, we began to focus and read though everything together. As usual, Yuri was very focused into what she was doing, and I did my best to follow along._

_As we read, I realized that she was actually reading out of the same book I was, rather than her own._

_It seemed to be causing her neck stress, so I wrote something down._

_[Would it be easier to work if I moved my book closer to you?]_

"H-Huh?" _Yuri seemed surprised._

"Oh, um go ahead if you wish… It's just easier for me to follow along with what you are reading like this."

_In response, I slid my book over and also scooted a bit over myself, since it'd be harder to read otherwise._

"U-Um alright, let's continue."

_We continued to study as time went on, and I only slightly noticed how overly close we were sitting._

_Thankfully, I don't think the teacher cared and Yuri was too focused to realize._

_It was… a little uncomfortable. Usually I don't get that close with people._

_But i guess I can put up with it if it's a friend._

_...friend?_

_Is Yuri my friend too?_

_I guess so. Actually, I'm pretty sure of that._

_Natsuki too. She may be a bit prickly, but she seems to care from what I can tell._

_It's... odd. I never expected to make friends here._

_I mean one was odd enough, but 3? In like 3 days?_

_I guess good friendships can develop pretty fast. I mean when I first met Aubrey, Basil and Kel it probably only took one meeting to form that initial bond._

_Still, why was I so sure I'd be alone here?_

_Was it just guilt? Or something similar?_

"Um… Sunny?"

_Oh, I lost my train of thought._

"sorry, i was thinking of home."

"Ah… I bet you miss your hometown, don't you?"

_I nodded._

"I… I don't have any friends really, besides the club I'm in I mean…"

_She looked up._

"But, I can't deny that I would really miss them if I ever had to leave. So don't worry, feeling like that is natural."

_I smiled, and she seemed to see that and smile too._

"Why don't we take a break for a moment. I um, I had something I wanted to…"

_Yuri seemed to fumble with her words as she reached into her bag._

"I um… I thought um…"

_Yuri breathed in._

"Do you… like to read?"

_I nodded. Well, I didn't do it much for a while, but I couldn't deny that books could be fun._

"That's wonderful. I uh, I accidently picked up two copies of one of my favorite books, and I was wondering if you wanted it?"

_Yuri bashfully smiled and handed me the book._

_I smiled, taking it and-_

_ &7ru3738#8:8r"7\×&-**jdjw772udh3u8dj\\!&uu37!!!! _

_…_

_Welcome to Whitespace_

_You have been here as long as you can remember._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Once again, Omori was awakened by nightmares, nightmares of something lurking outside of his domain._

_You see, Whitespace was Omori's true domain, but so too to an extent was Headspace as a whole, even Blackspace._

_It was all an area of the mind under which he could fight and guard Sunny from his deeper mind and other things._

_Omori, however, had one fatal flaw that even he could not overcome._

_Reality._

_You see, Omori couldn't shape Sunny's experiences outside. As a matter of fact, it was the reason Omori did his best to keep Sunny inside as long as he could._

_In reality, many things can happen, both good and bad, and being the guardian against bad, he would fully sacrifice the good to destroy the bad._

_The only way Omori would ever truly protect Sunny would be to lock him away within himself forever, or perhaps kill him if that didn't work. A cruel fate, but one less harsh than what he might face out there._

_This was the only way to keep things such as this, these nightmares, from continuing._

_Omori sighed and looked out into whitespace. For many years it remained much the same, but something was different now. He could clearly see it after all._

_A second White door, standing opposed to the other._

_Omori decided to walk up to it, peeking into the door's keyhole._

_Inside, the face of a smiling girl faced back. she seemed to be mouthing something, but she couldn't speak yet. They weren't finished._

_Omori left the door and laid back down, for it was not time yet._

_One more day, he thought. Then I can begin my mission again._

_And so, Omori patiently watched the flickering darkness of the light above his head._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"Sunny? Earth to Sunny?"

_"H-Huh?"_

_I sprung back awake, Sayori nervously looking at me._

"Did you doze off? I do that too sometimes, so don't worry, ehe…"

_Her smile turned down a little._

"Or… did something happen again."

_I thought back to the moment I must have passed out._

_Yuri was working with me, and she pulled out a book to share with me._

_I smiled and took it an-_

"Gaaah!" _I must have cried out a little because Sayori ran over._

"Sunny? Are you ok? Please tell me what's going on!"

"book…"

"Huh? What about a book."

"the eye… it…"

_Sayori ran over and hugged me._

"Oh no… You saw the cover of that one scary book, didn't you? The one with the… The eye on it."

"The person who had it must not have known about your… monster… that looks like that…"

_At the moment i felt a little afraid, but…_

_The hug felt nice. It makes me feel a little better._

_So this is what it's like after all these years… I forgot what Mari's hugs were like… it's been so long._

"Thank you… I… i feel a bit better now."

"I'm glad I helped." _Sayori smiled, though I could still see the worry in her expression._

"So… Where did Yuri go?"

"Huh? You know Yuri?"

_Sayori gasped._

_"Oh no! This is terrible!"_

_Sayori looked really worried._

"Yuri gets really excited when it comes to books, but she gets really stressed or anxious otherwise. She probably wanted to share her book with you but didn't know about… the monster."

"She probably feels horrible… we need to go find her and try to comfort her…"

_Sayori looked really serious all of a sudden, clearly taking the well-being of her friend's seriously._

_Motioning to me, I followed, feeling a little guilty._

_Even now, my problems are hurting others, aren't they…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Pretty soon, we tracked down Yuri, however she was in the bathroom, so I had to have Sunny wait outside._

_Sunny, you poor thing… I'm sad this happened, I really wanted you to be friends with everyone, but this probably isn't a good start, is it?_

_I don't know what's causing this or if it's normal, but you're worrying me a bit. I don't want to lose another friend right after I just met you, selfish as the reasoning may be…_

_I quietly approached the stall where I'm fairly certain Yuri was. I could hear her crying in there…_

_I tapped on the door._

"Hey… Yuri? Is everything ok?"

"S-Sayori? What are you doing here?"

_I laughed a fake laugh to try and put her at ease._

"Well, I was coming to get Sunny for the club meeting, but he said something happened. Mind if we talk a little?"

"He- He's joining the club? A-After that?"

"N-no! I can't… I can't face him after what happened! I'm a monster!"

"Yuri…" _I tried to calm her down._

"You just didn't know about Sunny's problem."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

_I'll try to explain this from what I can._

"Sunny… he seems to have some sort of trauma I think, though it feels like it's more than that, and it causes him to hallucinate and even pass out sometimes…"

_Yuri stopped crying as she listened._

"From what I can assume, he might also have… the uh, same problem I have, likely because of whatever happened. He hasn't told me what it is yet, but I hope i'll find out someday."

_Yuri mumbled, trying to think._

"B-But… surely he must see me negatively then? I don't think this is the first time he saw me as a…"

"He sees this eye thing. When he showed me, I couldn't help but feel… Sadness, and terror at the sight of it. I don't know, but it gives me a bad feeling. But I'm guessing he saw your book and-"

"Oh no… I knew I shouldn't have done that… Now he's gonna hate me, and if he joins the club then-"

"He doesn't hate you. Actually, he seemed worried."

"H-Huh?"

"He doesn't express much, but i've talked to Sunny a lot in the past 3 days. He seems to be very concerned for people he sees as friends."

"F-friend?"

"Yeah, friend!"

_Yuri paused for a moment._

"I… I need some time to compose myself before I come back. I don't know if I'll come to the club today but… I'll try to get over this."

_I smiled._

"Alright then Yuri, do your best to feel better!"

_Quickly, I walked out to see Sunny's worried expression._

_Or rather, it was hard to tell from his face, but his eyes er, eye is easy to read._

_I wonder if he got hurt and that's tied to all of this…_

"Alright Sunny, she's ok now, she just needs some time to think. So, why don't we head to the club? That'll be fun!"

_Sunny smiled, and we kept walking._

_It's weird, maybe it's just Sunny's nature, but I feel so happy nowadays. At first I thought it was just because he was like MC but… its weird_

_I hope I can help._

_And as for him making friends, I'm certainly glad._

_Yuri is nice, smart, the kind of person everyone loves, but she's just a little too quiet to get others to notice her._

_Ah, Yuri and Sunny._

_Them being friends…_

_That makes me so… happy._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Quickly making our way to the club, with Sayori smiling, she brought me to the area of the school mostly reserved for 11th graders and seniors from what I'm aware._

_It's a little high up in the building, which of course makes me a bit nervous, but as much as I hate stairs, they will always exist._

_Regardless of that, I followed Sayori into a classroom that I could only assume was the Literature club._

"Heya guys! I brought the new member!"

"Ah Sayori, I-!" Monika started greeting Sayori only to turn to me with an odd expression.

"O-Oh hey Sunny, hope you are doing ok…"

_I wonder what that's about…_

"He's ok, just had a bit of a scare with a book."

"A book scared him? Isn't that kind of ironic when he's supposed to be joining us?"

_Well, this is getting awkward really fast. I think Sayori noticed because she changed the topic._

"Well anyway, this is Sunny, but you already know him. Guess I gotta introduce you to Natsu-"

"Sunny? W-what are you doing here?"

_Natsuki was walking out of the closet with a box in hands, when she saw me and looked rather surprised._

"N-No… it can't be… Did you actually come here to hunt for chicks? T-That was a joke!"

_"Eh? You know Natsuki already too?"_

_Sayori looked really confused, completely ignoring Natsuki's comment._

"Y-yeah, We talk over lunch sometimes… it's not like we share any classes…"

"Thats nice! I had no idea Sunny was already making so many friends here. That's wonderful…!"

_Something about the comment felt off but I let it be. I'm prone to overthinking._

"O-Oh right, Monika. Yuri might be a bit late, due to an incident. I'm sure she'lm stop by though."

_Monika sighed._

"Don't tell me a book got her too? We're gonna lose our entire club at this rate..."

_Yeah, I'm not going to live that down… i wish Sayori would have explained better…_

"Uh, Monika can I talk to you for a moment? I think I need to explain what happened."

_Sayori and Monika took a step out into the hall, leaving me and Natsuki, who was still staring at me._

"So, Sayori brought you, right? That's odd."

_Natsuki stopped for a moment._

"You know, I used to have class with her last year. She seemed really happy for the first half, always around that friend of hers whenever there wasn't a class. No idea what his name was."

"Then one day he kinda just, well, stopped showing up. After that day, she seemed to change."

"She was super sad and quiet all the time, and until she joined the club, I never really spoke with her again."

_Natsuki looked away for a second._

"I uh, don't know how you did it, but she seems happy again. So keep up whatever you are doing."

"All of my clubmates are nice people so… don't hurt them ok?"

_She paused and looked back._

"A-Anyway I made cupcakes, so…"

"yeah, Sayori mentioned it."

"Don't tell.me she used them to drag you here… I'll be pissed if that's the case."

"no, i wanted to come here. i mean, all of my friends are here."

"Ghauh? I um…"

"I'm gonna go read something… not that you'd find any of the stuff I read interesting so…"

"alright, i'll see you later."

"Y-Yeah…"

_With that, I decided to simply sit and await Monika and Sayori's return._

_After a little bit, they came back in. Sayori was smiling as usual, but Monika was giving rather worried glances._

"Okay you 3! Since our Vice President is out at the moment and might take a while to get back, I think we can go ahead and eat."

"Yeah! I've been dying to try one of Natsuki's cupcakes! They look so cute!"

"Almost as cute as you, Natsuki."

"GGGNN-" _That comment made Natsuki flare up._

_"I-I'M NOT CUTE!"_

_I took out the paper from when i talked to Natsuki earlier and gave it to Sayori, pointing at her._

_Sayori had to hold herself to stop from laughing. Monika pf course came over and saw it as well, chucking too._

"H-Hey, What's so funny!?"

"Sunny draws a mean cactus."

"NNNN- GIVE ME THAT!" 

_Natsuki started flailing as Monika held the paper up so she couldn't grab the notebook. She did however take the page and hand it to Natsuki, who promptly crumpled it up and threw it out the nearest window._

_Calmed down, she sat in a chair and pouted._

"If you guys keep this up, I'll just take my cupcakes and leave..."

"N-No…" _Sayori cried out, leading to Natsuki and Monika laughing a bit. I couldn't help but laugh a little too._

_In hindsight, this reminds me a lot of years ago, back with everyone back home. The laughs and smiles, and the subtle jabs. It's nice to see even in other places things like that can happen._

_Soon, we all made our way to a table with 6 chairs. I decided to sit next to Sayori since I knew her the best, and she smiled._

_Soon, Natsuki brought out her cupcakes, which indeed looked extremely cute, with the little cat ears._

_They tasted extremely good too. I kinda wish we had something to drink though…_

_Still, it was nice to chat and once more get to know more about my new friends._

_Even getting to know Monika was nice, since I kinda only saw her at some rather quick moments before._

_Soon we finished eating, with Natsuki saving a single Cupcake from Sayori for Yuri, and we went on to discuss the club itself._

"Well, we actually don't do much here, mostly we just read, though I'm open to new ideas."

"oh, i thought we'd be writing here or something."

_Monika thought for a moment._

"You know, i'm surprised none of us thought about that."

"That's because nobody would want to share their writing, right? I mean I know i'd be too- um, well I-"Natsuki tried to cut in, losing what she was saying at the end.

"Hey Natsuki, I thought I saw you writing a poem the other day. What was it called again-"

"Aa! Where did you see that? I'm not doing anything…" _Natsuki defended._

"Sorry, I was just curious."

"Yeah, I kinda wanna see what your poem is like too!"

_"i'm sure it's nice." I said quietly._

_"I-uh… You all put me on the spot now…"_

_As she spoke, we could hear the door creek open, and quietly Yuri stepped in._

_Seeing me, she almost turned around, but before she could, Sayori rushed up._

"Yuri! Great, you're here! You showed up just in time to help try and get Natsuki to show us her poem!"

"Show us? Huh? Wait, you write poem's Natsuki?"

"Y-Yeah… what about it?"

"Thats nice… although I can relate to not wanting to share… I write sometimes myself."

"Awe… what's with you guys and not wanting to share? Meanies…"

_Monika seemed kinda quiet for a moment. Then, she snapped her fingers._

"Ok everyone! New idea!"

"Since This *is* a literature club and I think we should try to do some more official activities, how about we all write a poem for Tomorrow and share it in the next club meeting?"

"B-but-" _Natsuki tried to protest, but Monika continued._

"I understand you are scared, I mean everyone gets scared of being judged for stuff you do. But it's a natural part of life to try and push past that and try new things."

"You agree, right Sunny?"

_Huh? Why me?_

_I mean it's true, but i didn't expect to be called out…"_

"yes… of course."

"Then it's settled! We'll each write a poem tonight and share them as a group tomorrow. If we do it together, nobody will feel judged."

"I uh… i don't know about that but uh… ok…"

_Natsuki seemed reluctant, but agreed._

_And with that, my first club meeting started to come to an end._

_"Well everyone, that was a wonderful day! We should all go ahead and head home. I look forward to seeing what you all make!"_

_With that, I got myself ready, but quickly found a quiet presence looming over me._

"h-hi yuri. I-"

"It's alright Sunny, I understand if I'm making you uncomfortable. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened. I should have known something was wrong from the day we met in the office and-"

"Yuri." _I spoke a bit louder, leading to Yuri yelping in surprise._

"I know you meant no harm, you just wanted to share something you enjoyed with me."

"For what it's worth, I'm happy you tried. You are a good friend."

_I uh… i…"_

_Yuri stuttered for a moment before continuing._

"Thank you. You seem like a good friend as well."

"I… i think I'm just having a rough day. I mean, even before I came here, someone threw a paper at me saying I looked like a Cactus or something…"

_Oh… oh dear…_

"Well anyway, I'll see you Tomorrow Sunny. I'll try to find a lighter book if I can."

_I smiled._

"I look forward to it."

_With that, Yuri wandered off and, Idling by the door whistling like a cartoon character, Sayori wandered over._

"So Sunny, ready to head home?"

_I nodded, and so we went._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_It's a weird thing, to be happy after being sad for a very long time._

_It makes you very afraid of losing it right away after you've got it. You fear every day that something will come and take it away. The world can be cruel some days after all._

_For Sayori, she was happier than she'd ever been, having finally filled the void left when she lost the only true friend she had._

_Sayori always had a knack for observation. She could always see things, details that others wouldn't, though she usually just didn't use this skill for much of anything._

_She did, however, also have a very good skill at knowing people, so she already knew deep down that, unless something terrible happened, Sunny likely would be a perfect friend from then on._

_That is, unless something terrible happened._

_Sayori also had another big i11sue, a chronic one that couldn't go away. She didn't like to share it as she only liked to give others positivity, she didn't like to be a burden. This problem, or "monster" as she called it for Sunny's sake nowadays, was the thing that kept her from often caring for herself._

_It also tended to push more negative thoughts into a reachable range. "What if's" of terrible things._

_For Sayori, she was happy now, but that was scary, because she didn't want to lose it all over again, and be right back where she was at the start of the week._

_Sayori would do anything she could to keep that from happening. After all, she wanted Sunny to be happy too.￦_

_Sighing as they parted ways, going back up to her room, Sayori lay on her bed._

_Inspired, she began to write a poem._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*_ ** _11 Days left until the festival_ ** _*_


	4. Chapter 4

_…As Omori sat in Whitespace, awaiting the inevitable end of his day, long and empty as always, He could hear a noise._

_It was tiny, crackling and small, coming from the new door._

_It still wasn't time to enter yet, that would be tonight, as the Headspace would compile its final changes._

_Every time Headspace reformed itself, elements would change, but much would stay the same. That, however, was in part due to Sunny's lack of new experiences in the time Headspace developed each iteration._

_This Time, as Omori could already tell, might be vastly different. After all, Whitespace had never had choices before. And yet, now there were two doors to enter._

_As Omori watched the door, he felt something that was a bit unnatural to him. Fear._

_You see, Omori had in the moments I spent talking just witnessed one of the doors unlock and crack itself open by its own volition._

_From behind it, a light laugh emerged._

_...This wasn't supposed to happen._

_It shouldn't happen._

_Refusing to be phased however, Omori continued to stare into the stable darkness of the light above him._

_The time to enter Headspace again would come soon._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_The day seemed to fly by very quickly, far less eventful than many of those before it._

_It also helped that Sunny was actively looking forward to his second day in the Literature club._

_You see, Sunny did have a fondness for writing sometimes, although most of the writing he did was internal. He never shared his personal thoughts most of the time._

_But besides that, he had also grown rather fond of his 3 friends there, and even if he didn't know her as well, the President seemed nice too. He liked the idea that rather than wasting away in his home like he did all those years, now he could go out and do stuff._

_Through the day, he spent time talking with Sayori about himself and vice versa, he talked more with Natsuki and of course worked with Yuri toward his goals of education. Yuri was a little more anxious due to the previous day, but seemed to be doing alright at the very least._

_Finally, the day finished, Sunny strolled into the literature club, happy to see Sayori's smiling face ready to greet him._

"Sunny! Glad to see you made it again, and no scares this time! That's a new record!"

_It's… it's only been a single day Sayori…_

"I'm glad things went well too." I said calmly.

_As we talked, Yuri followed behind as well._

_Quietly, she took a seat at a chair and began reading._

"So, uh Sunny…" _Sayori started making a face._

_"I was wondering, would you mind walking me to the vending machine? I don't wanna walk by myself and all that… so..."_

_It's no problem, so I agreed. Quickly, we rushed out of the class, Sayori hiding a conniving smirk while we did._

_Once we got there, as if she had done this a million times before, she elegantly performed the most fake search for a wallet that didn't exist i've ever seen._

_"Ehe, I must have left it at home… Sunny… would you uh…?"_

_Before she could finish, I put the money needed in the machine and she jumped with joy._

_I still have plenty to work with either way, so I don't mind. Kinda wish she'd just ask though…_

"umm, Sayori?"

"Yegh?" _She replied, with her mouth already full._

"Next time just ask, I really don't mind."

_"Wait… so you did know…"_

_"Ehe, I mean… Yes, of course."_

_Sayori was grinning in a way that I kinda got a bad feeling from, or rather, my wallet got a bad feeling from. This may have been a big mistake._

_Regardless, we went back to class, where Natsuki was sitting with not one, but two giant cookies._

_Somehow, Sayori had already managed to eat the 5$ in snacks I bought and was foaming at the mouth._

_I… Honestly I'm more impressed than anything… How on earth she can eat that quickly is beyond me._

_"Heeeyyyy… Natsuki, C-Can I…?"_

"Hmm? I thought you guys just went to buy something?" _Yuri perked up a little._

_"W-Well I-"_

_Natsuki grinned._

"Oh? I was gonna give this to you, but if you already had something, I guess there's no point."

"Natsuki _WHYYYY!?" Sayori quickly began crying out._

_"Hey Sunny, you can have this one." Natsuki grinned, fully knowing what she was doing._

_I could feel the stare very intently already._

"Hey… Sunny…?"

_She was smiling in the same way Aubrey used to to get stuff._

_Unable to say no as always, I handed the cookie over._

"Thaaanks!" _Sayori said in a sing-song voice as she skipped over to a chair and sat down._

"Man, you really don't know how to say no to people, do you patchy?"

"Patchy?" _Yuri looked up, confused._

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting about Sunny's eyepatch."

_Yuri looked back down and kept reading._

"You uh, you don't mind the nickname do you?" _Natsuki asked quietly._

_I shook my head and she pouted._

"Man, you really can't tell anyone No can you?"

_"Sorry I'm late everyone!" Suddenly, Monika rushed into the room, stopping in front of the teacher's desk rather abrupt._

"Where were you?" _Natsuki asked, crossing her arms._

_"C-Could it be? Does Monika have a secret Boyfriend?" Sayori gasped at the thought._

_Monika, meanwhile, looked confused and slightly uncomfortable._

"H-Huh? No, I don't have a boyfriend. I've never really had the chance."

"Really? But you're so pretty and popular!" _Sayori gasped._

"Well, it's not like I haven't tried before… it just uh, didn't work out…"

_Monika looked kinda unsure what to say there, but she. Pushed forward anyway._

"So uh, everyone wrote a poem right?"

"I did!" _Sayori said, jumping in the air._

"I'm actually kinda excited to try this. I really gave my best with it."

"Well, I was just checking, though We should probably do something else for a bit first."

"Awe… Well alright, I can wait then." _Sayori commented._

_With that, everyone seemed to go off on their own way._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_For the time being, ironically, I kinda felt like drawing something, so I started doodling something on my desk._

_As I did, I could hear Sayori and Monika chatting about club ideas, a lot of stuff that I felt I should just zone out for the time being as I wasn't part of the discussion._

_As I drew an elegant Cat Butler and his prized master Mewo, I felt like someone was watching me from a distance._

_Looking up, I noticed Natsuki reading along the wall and decided to join her. After all, my masterpiece can wait._

"hi natsuki, how are you?"

_"Huh?" She looked up again._

"Oh, hey Sunny. I'm alright, just reading… um…" _She seemed to stop and turn a bit red._

"I-Its a uh, manga, which for your information Manga is literature. It's a medium for anyone to enjoy, got that?"

_I nodded, something which I guess she didn't expect._

"i used to read many comics with my friends."

_Natsuki seemed to look kind of dejected at that._

"Ah, well… I just… uh…"

_She looked down._

"You can join me if you want. I mean, it might not be your kind of story, but…"

"I don't mind."

_I sat down next to Natsuki, as she flipped back to the start of the volume she was reading._

_The story, Parfait Girls, was one I didn't recognise, about a bunch of girls who go on adventures, do cooking and a lot of other stuff._

_Thinking about it, it made me wonder if that's where she learned to bake._

_…_

_Actually, I wonder why if she can bake she always seems so hungry at lunch?_

_As always, more questions arise._

"Um, hey are you even reading?"

"Oh… sorry i lost focus…"

"It's fine…"

_We kept reading for a moment._

"So, I noticed you've been talking a bit more. Haven't seen you need to use that notepad all day."

_Thinking back, she's actually right._

_Actually, it's felt quite a bit easier to communicate overall recently._

_I wonder why that is?_

"well, it feels nice to be able to speak at least…" I admitted.

"Well, you'd better keep working on it. After all, you're only ears away from being Without evil."

"huh?"

"Um, you know… Speak no Evil, See No evil… ah, nevermind…"

"Just keep up the good work if you want, i guess."

_"Ok everyone! I think it's time we go ahead and share Poems!" Monika called out._

_Soon after, the clubroom assembled._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_As I readied my poem, I decided to look it over one more time._

_I was pretty proud of it honestly, so hopefully the others will like it._

  
  
  


**Blank Canvas**

Ahead of me stood a blank canvas, white as snow and leading to nowhere.

It called to me one day, to make it my own, my home away from home

It was a place safe from others. It was a place safe from the world, a place where I could paint freely as I chose

The world need not be black or white if i wanted, but it need not be anything either

In it I was free

But truth be told, that was a lie.

The world was the way it needed to be

It wasn't safe, it was nothing at all

It never called me

It was never there

And I was not me

  
  
  


_…_

_I think it's pretty good, but I hope the others will agree…_

_Deciding I should start with the President of the club, I turned and walked over to Monika._

"Ah Sunny, I see you made a poem as I asked." 

_Monika laughed a little._

"Really, I was surprised with how quiet you are that you'd suggest something like writing, but I'm glad you did."

"Every once in a while, everyone needs a little push to get going."

_Monika leaned over_.

_"Anyway, here's my poem! I hope you enjoy it!"_

  
  
  


**Hole in the Wall**

It couldn't have been me.

See, the direction the spackle protrudes.

A noisy neighbor? An angry soul? I'll never know, I wasn't home.

I peer inside for a clue.

No, I can't see. I reel, blind like a film left out in the sun, faded from time.

My retinas already scorched, I seek desperately to know why.

It couldn't have been me.

Stretching forever, the meaningless image standing before me.

Not too wide or tall, but too deep to see.

I peer once more, for the blindness has stopped, only to be blind once more.

I shall never see.

It couldn't

  
  
  


_…_

"So, Sunny, what do you think?"

_I… What the hell did I just read?_

"It's uh… very interesting."

_I have no idea what this means, yet it feels like there is something going on here._

"Ah, yeah I know it's probably a bit hard to decipher, but then again it's. Pretty freeform."

"May I ask what it's about."

"Well, you could say I had an epiphany of sorts recently. It came over me rather strongly, so I decided to write it out as my poem."

"It's uh, a bit… difficult to put into words though. But maybe once everyone knows each other better I'll be able to do it."

_I see._

"By the way, your poem is interesting too. It seems very symbolic, I bet Yuri will love it."

"thank you." _I quietly said, moving on._

_Monika…_

_I don't know you too well, but I can tell there is more to you than you're letting on._

_Maybe I should look into her closer._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"Hey Sayori, wanna trade poems?"

"Sure!"

_Sayori smiled as we swapped._

"I worked very hard on this one, So I hope you like it!"

  
  
  


**Bottles**

I Pop off my scalp, like the lid of a jar, the home where I keep my dreams.

I pluck one out with a finger, fresh air flows like gentle streams.

Little balls of Sunshine, like bundles of kittens, shine like stars.

No time to waste, in a bottle it's safe, lest it be picked and cut with scars.

I keep these bottles for my friends, the people all I need.

But as time has passed, I realized that with nothing lasts, they want freed.

Flowing dreams, broken dreams, shattered on the floor.

Trapped in bottles, is that best or is there something more?

The dreams now free, fly to the sky, not held down anymore.

What will happen next? 

The choice is yours.

  
  
  


_…_

"So Sunny, what did you think?"

"I like it, it's about freeing yourself from bad situations or mindsets, right?"

"Huh? Wow, you actually hit the nail on the head there… _I guess you do understand me a bit then, ehe…"_

"So, what did you think of mine?"

"Well, It's a poem about retreating into your mind right? I can see that much, though the last line kinda threw me off a bit…"

"Well, it's a little more complex than that, but pretty close. Then again, I can't expect you to just understand what's gone in my head regardless."

"Hmph, I guess that's a win for you then. But mark my words, I will understand you and I will figure out your poem first time next time!"

_I… didn't know this was a competition…_

_Either way, Sayori looks happy, so that's good._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*Note, Natsuki and Yuri's Poems are the canon poems for the second day, as such I won't rewrite them. I'm gonna make it a habit of only posting poems that are either changed or new entirely._

_Anyway, back to the plot!_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_After I finished sharing my Poem with Sayori, I moved on to Natsuki and Yuri. Natsuki has an interesting poem, one a bit darker than I expected from her, about the feeling of giving up._

_Yuri, meanwhile wrote a poem that went a bit over my head, but was pleasant to read regardless._

_Out of the two, Yuri seemed like mine for the symbolic nature more than Natsuki did, though she at least seemed to respect what I was going for._

_Either way, It seemed like overall everyone liked it to an extent, so I'll consider this poem a success._

_As I watched, it seemed like Natsuki and Yuri were swapping poems. Getting a bit of a bad feeling, I paid close attention._

_"(What the hell is this symbolism?)"_

"Hmm? What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. It's alright I guess."

"Ah, yours is too. It's cute…"

"Cute? _CUTE?_ How is a poem about the feeling of giving up _cute?!?"_

_Uh oh…_

"I uh… I guess it was just the wording and… I-I just was trying to say something nice…"

"Well if you can't think of anything nice, don't say anything at all!"

"As a matter of fact, I have some changes I want to suggest-"

"Natsuki, my style is already rooted, and for what it's worth, everyone seemed to like my poem."

"People complimented mine too, thank you very much! Sunny and Sayori liked it!"

_Please don't drag me into this please don't drag me into this-_

"I'm fairly certain Sunny liked mine more actually."

"Oh? Since when did you care about the new member so much?"

_Please make it stop I want to go home_

"Hey, guys cut it out, you're making Sunny super uncomfortable."

_"Stay out of it Sayori, this isn't your discussion!"_

_"Yeah!"_

_The fight kept escalating, as the room seemed to begin to spin and darken._

_Why did things come to this? Why are people fighting over me and some poems? I'm not the person to ask for judgement like that…_

_"-Well, I'm not the one who's boob's magicly grew a size bigger once Sunny showed up!"_

_"Natsuki that's-"_

"Stop. Both of you stop."

_Both did, with confused faces._

_As I looked, Sayori looked, well, very upset to say the least. Actually, I don't think i've ever seen her angry before to begin with._

_Suddenly, she went back to normal._

_"S-Sorry, the fighting was just getting under my skin a bit."_

_Sayori walked over to Natsuki._

_"Natsuki, your poems are like you, straight to the point but very effective. It's a style that suits you very well."_

_"And Yuri, your words are elegant and well picked, with as deep of meaning as you can create. It suits you just as well as Natsuki's style suits her."_

_Sayori stopped in the middle of both._

"I'm not going to point fingers at either of you, as both of you were defending yourselves. Both of you want to express yourselves, and that's great. But please, understand that both of you have great ideas, just in different ways."

_Both of them sat in silence for a moment, before Yuri turned to Natsuki._

"Sayori is right, I'm sorry for doing this…"

_Natsuki pouted and sighed._

"I'm… I'm sorry too. I'm gonna go read something…"

_Natsuki wandered off, and Yuri sat down, a little dejected._

"Wow Sayori, That was surprisingly effective."

"Huh? Oh, hey Monika."

"You know, one of these days you might just get bumped up to Vice president if you keep working like that."

"Really? Well, I wouldn't want to put Yuri out of a job…" _Sayori laughed a little, clearly relieved the fight was over._

"Well either way, thanks for dealing with that."

_Sayori turned to me for a moment._

"Sorry you had to see that… I promise that wasn't normal."

"it's ok." I said, smiling the best I could.

_Thank god for Sayori stepping in there…_

_..._

_For the rest of the class, we chatted some, before inevitably walking home._

_For a second day, that wasn't so bad. Sure, the fight was a bit tense, but it was probably since neither Yuri nor Natsuki was used to sharing like that._

_Deep down, I have a feeling that they will be Ok._

_Checking my phone as I got inside, I noticed a message from Basil._

|Basil- Hey Sunny

|Basil- got a bit of an update, I ran into Kel and it looks like he's doing ok.

|Basil- Turns out he got into some trouble back home and was caught up with trying to help out Hero with how he is doing.

|Basil- Hero doesn't sound to have gotten over everything yet, but Kel seems to have forgiven me at least, and he says he forgives you too, but will talk to you more this weekend.

|Basil- Anyway, just wanted to let you know, hope you are doing well today!

|Basil sent an attachment|

(It's a picture of Kel and Basil. They look happy.)

_Reading this, I smiled a little._

_Well, at least Kel is willing to talk to me soon, I'm really looking forward to that._

_Hero I expected was going to take a while, but at least there is a chance things will work out in the end._

_I just need to keep working like they would've wanted._

_I'll see you soon, everyone. I can't wait._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Welcome to White Space_

_You have been here as long as you can remember_

_…_

_Something is wrong._

_Omori can feel it. Someone has infiltrated whitespace. Someone is here, and yet he can't see them._

_Omori's first sign was that the laptop had activated prematurely, and Hanged Man was already open, something that typically would only take place after Omori ventured into headspace and began the search for Basil._

_Many times the Search for Basil happened, always the same as Basil would always be the first to find the truth. But that truth had already been revealed._

_The other thing, the more glaring issue, was the lightbulb._

_The lightbulb was missing._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Omori quietly opened the new door. It had already been opened as he saw, and he looked in to see 3 faces in a very familiar room. They, however, were different faces than usual._

_A red-haired girl spoke up._

_"Omori! It's wonderful to see you."_

_She ran up to hug Omori, but of course as normal he felt nothing. Regardless, she, Sayori's Dream counterpart Smiled._

_The other two were playing cards, a similar sight for the neighbor's room, however oddly, the cat seemed not to loom overhead here._

_The smaller dream counterpart, Natsuki, called out to Sayori._

_"Hey! You messed up our cards…"_

_"Oh! Sorry, my bad…ehe"_

_Yuri, the taller one, simply chuckled._

_"Well, I guess luck does exist after all."_

_"N-No fair! I was winning!"_

_Natsuki wasn't pleased, but regardless, Sayori continued._

_"So, this might be weird but I heard that out of the clubroom there's like a huge forest now! It looks super pretty, but I didn't want to go out alone. Do you want to join me?"_

_Certainly it was likely the only way to progress, Omori agreed._

_Everyone's faces lit up._

"Alright! Let's go on an adventure!"

"F-Fine, I guess…"

"I don't mind."

_Omori and company began to wander out. As they did, Omori noticed Sayori getting stuck, much like Aubrey, and helped her out._

"Thanks, ehe…"

"Anyway, let's go check out the south-"

"Omori? Woah, how'd you get out here so fast?"

_A familiar voice called out._

"Hey guys, Omori's out here!"

_Suddenly, from the same stump they had emerged, 3 far more familiar faces to Omori appeared._

"Omori!" _Aubrey rushed out, and instantly hugged Omori, Hero and Kel trailing behind._

"Ehe… Um, who are you guys? I didn't know Omori had other friends." 

_Sayori looked confused._

"Yeah, that's odd…" _Natsuki added._

"I could say the same actually. Who are you?" _Aubrey's face showed a smile, but Omori could clearly feel that wasn't a friendly question._

"I'm Sayori, Omori's best friend."

"Well, I'm Aubrey, Omori's actual best friend."

"W-wait, what about me?" _Kel asked, confused._

_Hero quickly stepped in, trying to diffuse the situation._

"Now now, girls there's no need to fight. Omori can have more than 3 friends."

"Yeah, I mean I don't have any problems…" Yuri commented.

_Natsuki tried to move a little closer to Omori._

"I uh, I agree so uh- _KYAA!"_

_Before Natsuki could move away, Aubrey smacked her across the head with her stuffed toy._

_"Yeowch! That hurt? What's wrong with you!?"_

_Aubrey gave an innocent smile._

"What do you mean?" 

"You got too close to Omori. I don't know you well enough, so don't do that and you won't get bopped. It _'s_ that simple."

"Well hey, that's kind of Unfair, I mean we're all his friends right? Why do you get the right and not us?"

"Because I was here first."

"Um, Aubrey can you please calm down… i really don't want to have a fight break out over this…"

"There won't be a fight if everyone follows directions."

"You should listen to your friend. He seems to have common sense, unlike you."

"What was that, red? Did you say something?"

_Aubrey drew out her toy._

_Sayori quickly pulled out something too, a comically oversized pen._

"I said you should have listened to your friend. You are being unruly, whoever you are."

"Unruly? I'll have you know that I'm very calm when it comes to helping my friends."

_"Then step down."_

_The two had a standoff for a moment._

_Finally, Dream Aubrey stood down._

_Lowering her weapon, Sayori sighed._

"Good, now we can talk like-"

_IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART_

_-235_

_Sayori became toast!_

"W-What the fuck?"

"Sorry, my hand slipped."

"W-What the hell Aubrey!?!"

"Yeah, that was pretty uncalled for…"

"Really? But these people left with Omori right? Think about it."

"They're replacing us. Do you really want that?"

"But… that's not true, right Omori?"

"Omori?"

_In reality, Omori could care less. This was Sunny's choice to make, not his._

_As such, he remained his usual silence._

_Aubrey stood up, readying her weapon._

"So, let's make this a fair match. 2 on 3. If you beat us, you get to take our place and be Omori's friends. But if we win, you get lost. Deal?"

"D-Deal? This is ridiculous!?"

"Yeah, this seems unfair…"

_Aubrey smiled._ "Well then."

_Aubrey rushed forward._ "I guess we'll do this my way. Sorry Omori, but I'm not going to let these clowns swap in for us!"

"G-Guys why are we fighting? I don't want to do this… Hero, don't you… huh?"

_Hero too was in the middle of the brawl._

"Sorry Kel, but she actually has a point here. I don't want you or I to be replaced."

"N-No one has to be replaced, please!" Yuri begged.

_But still, the fight continued, with Kel watching dejectedly._

_Natsuki and Yuri fought hard, scared to death by the coordinated attacks of Aubrey and Hero. The onslaught was hell for them._

_All of a sudden, however, Aubrey collapsed as Yuri smacked her over the head with a book._

_"S-Sorry…"_

_Aubrey has turned to toast._

"Please, step down, you seem reasonable…"

"I normally would, but I can't risk this right now. i'm sorry."

_The fight continued as Omori watched. However, deep down he could feel that this wasn't supposed to be._

_This certainly wasn't supposed to be the reason for the two doors, he presumed. Something went wrong, likely caused by whatever caused the issues in whitespace._

_As The last two, Kel and a horrified Natsuki sat and glanced at their toasted friends, Omori made his way back to Whitespace._

_Let's perform a soft reset and try again Tomorrow, he thought. I will need everything I am given to find the lightbulb again. It must be returned._

_Readying his knife, Omori did what had to be done._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*_ **_10 days left before the festival_ ** _*_


	5. Chapter 5

_…_

_As Sunny woke up, he had a rather terrible feeling in his gut._

_He knew why, of course._

_The dream he had last night was… unpleasant._

_But that's besides the point._

_Walking to the mirror, he took a gander._

_It was just the two of them again, brother and sister._

_Sunny sighed, rinsing his eyes and brushing his teeth, to which the sight was gone._

_It had been almost a week since that last happened, though It was very common before. Almost daily, he would see her image in the mirror._

_Still, there was nothing to fear. Although the eye bothered him to see due to the bad memories associated, it was simply his sister watching over him._

_Or, at least that's what he hoped._

_Walking outside, Sunny was surprised to already be met with a familiar face._

"Hey Sunny! Hope you slept well!"

_That smile never ceased to calm him down this whole week…_

_As they walked, Sayori got closer, until she was holding his arm. He didn't mind, though in hindsight he hoped people wouldn't get the wrong idea._

_That would be awkward…_

"So Sunny, do you have any plans this weekend?"

_Oh, right. It's friday isn't it?_

_I shook my head._

_Sayori looked like she was planning something._

"Welll… I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight? I've got a doctors' appointment Tomorrow so I'll kinda be gone most of the day, and Sunday I promised Yuri I'd help her shop for some books."

_I considered it._

_I mean… Why would I turn her down? It's not like I do anything at home…_

"Sure, I don't mind."

"Cool! We can probably watch a movie or something."

_Um… wait… something feels weird here_

_Uh… i'll just leave it be…_

_Regardless of everything, we kept walking to school._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Pretty soon, lunch arrived and I sat in my usual spot, figuring I'd see Natsuki again as it had become somewhat of a daily tradition at this point._

_Strangely though, 20 minutes into lunch she still hadn't shown up._

_Simply sitting there, staring at my food, I started to think back on my previous encounters with her._

_"she seems to be having home problems, maybe her family can't afford to pay for lunch?"_

_"still, that might not be all there is to it… i really need to talk to her…"_

_"That's probably a good idea, Sunny."_

_Huh?_

_Looking up, I noticed someone had sat across from me._

"oh… was i talking out loud, monika?"

"Just a little, but it's fine. You were talking about Natsuki right?"

_I reluctantly nodded, and she sighed._

"Don't worry, I've noticed it too… she hasn't told me the full story either if you're wondering by the way."

_I looked up._

"Um… I didn't know you shared a lunch, monika."

"Oh, yeah actually. Usually I eat alone, but I saw you sitting by yourself and wanted to see what's up."

_She went quiet for a second, thinking of what to say._

"You normally eat with Natsuki right? That's why you are thinking about her right?"

_Monika grinned._

_"Or is it more than that?"_

_I… why…_

"I'm just kidding, don't worry. Although I don't know where she is either…"

"Usually she would be here by now." _I noted._

_For a moment we just kinda sat there._

_"So uh… Sunny, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about if you don't mind."_

_Weirdly, that comment made it feel like the room had darkened a little._

"So, it's been your first whole week right? And you're on day 3 in the club as of today."

"It's nice to see you are settling in well."

"Still, there's um, something that's bothered me a little."

"I've noticed that when you first arrived you had a lot of… hallucinations."

"And I might just be overthinking this… but."

"Have you… _seen anything you weren't supposed to?"_

_...Something is wrong._

_Something is very wrong._

_I don't like this._

_Suddenly, Monika laughed a little._

"I'm just kidding Sunny, it's probably just past stuff, right?"

"I won't dig into your personal life."

_Monika stood up._

"Anyway, I guess that's about it. If you see Natsuki, tell her hi for me. See you at the club later!"

_Before I could respond, Monika walked off._

_That…_

_Something is weird about her, but I can't place it…_

_Why does she give me such a sinking feeling?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Pretty soon, the day was over, and it was time for Club. As such, I strolled in, ready to greet my friends._

"Sunny! It's good to see you again!"

_Sayori smiled._

"But uh… didn't we just speak in 6th period?"

_I decided to crack a bit of a joke about it. After all, we spent much of 6th period discussing hobbies._

"Eh? But it's still nice to see you again. I mean, it's not like there's a timing constraint to wanting to see someone…"

"Plus, being around you makes me happy any time, so of course I look forward to it."

_Well, she certainly knows how to compliment people…_

_Currently, it was just me, Sayori and Yuri._

_Part of me feels glad Monika hasn't showed up yet…_

_I decided to walk over to Yuri._

"hey yuri, what are you reading?"

_Yuri looked up, just noticing me, and looked a little confused on what to do for a moment._

"Oh… hey Sunny. It's the one book from before, but uh… I know eyes bother you a bit so…"

"ah, i see…"

_Yuri kinda just sat there for a moment, clearly remembering the event a few days ago._

_Not wanting to leave her upset, I decided to keep talking._

"what is the book about?"

Yuri sat there for a moment.

_"Ah, well it's a little hard to explain…"_

"i don't mind."

_Yuri breathed in._

_"Well, the book is called "Portrait of Markov. It's one of my personal favorite books so I tend to read it a lot."_

_I thought back to what Sayori said on it after she found me._

"so, is it horror?"

_Yuri seemed to think for a moment._

"Well yes, though it's more on the psychological side of things than the physical, not to say there isn't quite a bit of graphic imagery too…"

"For me, it's just an interesting concept, how a writer can use your own imagination of events to throw you for a loop. It allows you to create your own kinds of meaning from things."

"Yuri really gets super into books when she reads. It's almost like she lives in their world while she does it, ehe~" _Sayori commented from the corner._

"I can understand what that is like. I used to go into my head a lot."

"I see… perhaps that's why you seem good at symbolism in your poems."

"I was actually wondering about that Sunny. What did you mean with that last line yesterday, the whole "I was not me part?"

_Before I could answer Sayori's question, the door cracked open and Monika strolled in._

"Hello everyone! I'm sorry for being late again, I just- Huh? Natsuki still isn't here?"

_Monika seemed to glance around the room, mostly looking at the empty closet._

"Still? What do you mean Monika?"

"Well, I haven't seen her all day, and she wasn't even with Sunny at lunch."

_Sayori looked over, laughing._

"Oh, so that was true! I guess it makes sense then why she seems less prickly toward you."

"She doesn't seem to have many friends outside of here, so when I heard you guys were having lunch I wondered why. Guess you're just a good listener!"

_Part of me was focused on Sayori, but the other half couldn't shake the feeling Monika was staring at me a bit…_

_Regardless of that, it seemed like everyone was over Natsuki's disappearance and ready to move on with the morning._

_As usual, I sat down, thinking of what to do._

"H-Hey, Sunny?"

_I heard a voice, looking over and hearing Yuri._

_She seemed to be holding something._

"I-I know we didn't have the best first try with this, but since you are my f-friend I wanted to try this again… um…"

_I noticed Yuri was holding a book. Actually, the same book from before, except I noticed that she had taped a bit of paper over the cover._

"I-I know that the cover triggered something, s-so I covered it up but… would you like to read with me today?"

_Before I could answer, Sayori strolled over._

"Hey Sunny, I'm sorry to bother you, But I was gonna head over to the other classroom to get some stuff. Do you wanna join me?"

_Umm… well_

"Uh, not to be rude S-Sayori, but I was hoping to read with him some today…"

_Sayori smiled._

"Oh? What book did you want to read?"

"W-Well I-"

_Sayori paused._

"Wait a minute… Isn't that the one that Sunny got scared by before?"

_Yuri looked a bit downcast._

"W-Well I…"

"Yuri, I know you mean well, but Sunny's visions might flare up again if he reads it. I promise we can find you a new book Sunday like we agreed."

"I um…"

_I feel like Sayori might be unintentionally upsetting Yuri a bit…_

_Maybe I should step in and try to help…_

"u-um Sayori?"

_"Huh?_ Oh! What is it Sunny?"

"I uh… I really don't mind reading a bit of yuri's book… i'm sure i'd be ok…"

_Sayori looked with a bit of a serious expression._

"Are you sure? I mean, I know it can get kinda… intense. I don't want you to get hurt."

_I nodded._ "I promise."

_Sayori suddenly looked a little downcast._

"Wait… Who'll help me go get the stuff then? I was worried I'd forget something…"

"I'll help!" 

_Suddenly Monika popped over._

_"Oh… Hey Monika…!"_

_"I heard you need help getting stuff from the other class?"_

"Well yeah… I thought that… well, it's for the festival next week. I had a bit of an idea I was going to share with you later."

_Monika smiled at Sayori._

"I'm glad to see you are really starting to take initiative with the club! Anyway, don't worry I'll help you get everything you need."

_With that, Monika and Sayori walked out of the room._

_Sayori though, felt a little… off._

_Yuri was looking at me as they left the room._

"I-I'm sorry for making you have to turn Sayori down like that… I'm a terrible friend…"

_I shook my head._

"i'll see her tonight, it's ok."

_Yuri tilted her head._

_"Oh really? Well that's nice."_

_With that, I sat in the chair next to Yuri, grabbed the book and started reading._

_…_

_Well…_

_This book definitely is um… interesting._

_...I hope this doesn't give me nightmares…_

_Looking up, I noticed Yuri. Strangely, she seemed more to be reading out of my book than her own._

"um yuri, do you want me to move a little closer?"

_Yuri shook for a moment._

"U-Um sure. Sorry, it's just a bit of a habit…"

_I scooted closer, making it so both of us could read the book easier._

_As I watched, I noticed Yuri was getting to the end of pages far faster than I was._

"um, if you are ever ready to turn the page, just say."

"Oh! S-Sorry, I've read the book many times, so I was just going to let you go at your own pace…"

_With that in mind, we kept reading, with me flipping each page over to Yuri, like a passed basketball between friends._

"Isn't the main character a bit like you yuri?"

_"E-Eh?"_ _Yuri looked a bit bamboozled._

_"N-Not at all, why would you ever…?"_

_I looked down._

"I uh, i meant how you seem to second guess a lot of stuff you say, like earlier."

"Oh… I see. I guess I can understand that…"

_Yuri seemed to have a reaction to that…_

"um, yuri are you ok? you seem to be breathing kinda-"

"H-Huh? O-Oh sorry, I-"

_"Hey everyone! We're back!"_

_Loudly and proudly, Monika and Sayori bust into the room, carrying crafting paper and quite a bit of other stuff._

_Quickly setting everything down, Monika smiled and walked over to the Podium._

_"Ok Everyone! Why don't we go ahead and exchange poems?"_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quietly, I decided to review over my Poem one last time before moving on to the others.

  
  
  


**Picnic**

Picnics are fun, a day in the sun. A place to take your worries away.

Even when you're afraid, or sad, the sun shines and all your troubles fade away.

No matter what, no matter where, you can find a picnic not far away.

It's always there when you need it, no matter what it's here to stay.

That was until the sun went away.

There's no more picnics anyway.

  
  
  


_It was a poem most people wouldn't get, but it was what Sunny felt like writing._

_Today Sunny didn't feel like talking to Monika first, so he instead walked over to Sayori._

"Oh hey Sunny! Sorry about earlier, I didn't realize that you wanted to read with Yuri there, so I kinda was trying to cover for you…"

"Yuri is nice, but she can be kinda intense with reading sometimes. Either way, I want whatever will make you happy!"

"Besides, seeing you make new friends is great!"

_"Anyway, lets see…"_

_Sayori skimmed over my poem._

_"This one… You had someone close to you and lost them didn't you?"_

_Oh… I guess the poem was rather obvious then._

"I mean, you know i'm kinda in the same boat, so I understand."

_Sayori gave a rather sad smile._

"Just know we'll both get through it together. I'm here for you Sunny!"

_I waited for a moment, then she realized_

"OH! I completely forgot to give you my poem… Sorry, ehe…"

_She smiled again._

"Here you go!"

  
  
  


**%**

Inside my mind where my dreams are, there lay a little hole.

It's not too big, but not too small, inside it lives a vole.

The little guy comes running out every little while, looking for a snack.

He finds my dreams quite tasty, though I never get them back.

The little guy has friends too, they all want in as well.

I've done my best to block the hole, but they can never tell.

Every while I look back, I'm worried some were lost.

Get out of my head! Please.

I want breakfast.

  
  
  


_Well, that ended kinda abruptly._

"So, what do you think it's about?"

"Well, i'm actually not completely sure… I think I understand, but…"

"...Were you by chance writing this this morning?"

"Eh? N-no… a little…"

"It's fine, I don't mind, I just wondered."

"I had pancakes!" _She smiled._

_With that, we laughed and continued on._

_Deep down though, I have a feeling I know what she actually meant. It'd be rude to just outright say though..._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Next up was Yuri. Waiting by the desk, she looked eager to exchange poems._

"Ah, Sunny. May I take a look?"

_Yuri quickly read my Poem._

"I like the symbolism, and you have a decent understanding of conveying subjects. Are you sure you haven't done poetry before?"

_I shook my head._

_Granted, I guess having 4 years worth of dreams can give a lot of ideas for writing._

_Yuri smiled softly._

"Well, hopefully mine won't be too confusing. I wrote a different poem for today, but something inspired me to write this one earlier."

  
  
  


**Wheel**

A wheel, slowly turning in the sky. Day by Night, the Stars softly tick by. 

Dancing in the sky above, like clockwork they don't stop. The world keeps moving.

A docked ship sailing across the sea, the ocean breeze ashore, it doesn't stop for anyone, it never has before.

The clocks tick seconds, hours and years, the ticking never stops. A cogwheel dancing in the sky, it cares how no one feels.

Like a god breathing on the world, a heartbeat ever present, things keep going, with or without you, flying like a dear pheasant.

A mouse trapped within a hole just asking to be free, I hope that it will get there soon and help for what it needs.

The cogwheel never stops, spinning high forever more.

I never thought I'd fear that ticking sound this much before.

  
  
  


_"So, I know it's probably a bit hard to understand what it means, b-but I hope you like it…"_

"You are worried about Natsuki, aren't you?"

"H-Huh?"

"The poem, you're worried that something happened and you won't be able to see your friend again."

"W-Well that's… i guess it's partially true."

_I looked over to Yuri with the most serious expression I could give._

"I'm sure Natsuki is fine, we'll see her monday."

_Yuri looked down, then picked her face back up._

"Y-Your right, I'm sorry. T-Thank you for that."

"No problem Yuri."

_I just wonder how on earth she wrote that so fast…_

_Maybe she knows why Natsuki is out today then?_

_I suppose it isn't my business to ask…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Finally, a little Anxious, I walked up to Monika, the last club member._

"Hi Sunny, good to see you're still adjusting to the club well. Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable of course!"

_Monika was smiling sincerely, and yet I couldn't shake the anxious feeling I got from earlier…_

"So, your poem seems to imply that you lost someone close to you. Was it a sister by chance?"

_I kinda shuddered a little._

_"Ah, I guess that kinda explains it… I mean" most guys would be uncomfortable in a club with only a bunch of girls after all…"_

_She looked at my face and could see the conflicted emotions._

"S-Sorry for kind of outing you, it was just an educated guess… either way, just know that the people here will watch over you, ok?"

_She seemed to genuinely be trying to comfort me at least there._

"I know it doesn't mean much coming from me, I mean we barely talked and I feel like I kinda creeped you out earlier."

"I'll be honest, I'm super popular but not very good at talking to most people about personal stuff, so I'm sorry if I left any hard feelings."

"Just know i'm just trying to understand you better, that's all."

_Monika smiled._

_Honestly, I feel a bit better after that._

"Anyway, I'll go ahead and share my poem. Hope you like it!"

  
  
  


**Save Me**

The colors won't stop

Bright, beautiful colors

Exploding, expanding, piercing

A rainbow of colors on an empty page that never should have been written

And Endless Cacophony of meaningless words

The colors tell a story nobody wants to hear to no one at all, an empty page of empty words

There is no meaning or purpose besides to know

Violent, grating emptiness

Like an empty turntable left on by mistake

Like a broken heart in an empty ribcage.

And endless poem of meaningless

Go back

  
  
  


_"So, what do you think?"_

_I can't place it, but Monika's demeanor doesn't fit this at all. And once again, I can't understand what is being said._

_"I… Um."_

_"You don't understand it, that's fine. If I'm honest, this was a little too vague to be understood, but that's ok."_

_Monika seemed conflicted by the look on her face._

_Looking up, she noticed the clock._

"Alright everyone, it looks like we've made it to the end of class. Make sure to pack up your things and write a poem for Monday!"

_Monika quickly seemed to move out, as if she was trying to escape something. Strange…_

"Hey Sunny, are you ready to head over to your place?"

_I nodded, and couldn't help but smile a little._

_This would actually be the first time talking to Sayori outside of school, so that's nice. It's not as much of a worry that i'd get yelled at by a teacher for talking…_

_Quietly as we walked, Sayori seemed to be thinking about something._

"Um, is everything ok?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah ehe…" _Sayori seemed to pop out of her thoughts._

_We kept walking, until she said something._

"Hey, this might be out of the blue but… have you ever considered walking one of your other friends home?"

"Not really, I mean they love the other direction."

_Sayori chuckled._

"Well I know that silly, but… haven't you ever wanted to go see Yuri's house? Or even Natsuki's?"

"Eh? Not really, I never considered it…"

_In all honesty, I only started visiting people at all recently, and that was because I was about to move._

_Speaking of moving, i can't believe it's been a full week…_

_Sayori looked a little down._

"Plus, I honestly like walking with you. It'd be a shame to stop that."

"Eh? Really? B-But I mean…"

_Sayori trailed off for a moment._

"Well, thank you."

_With that, we quietly walked over to my house._

_As I approached, it seemed like Sayori got her happy expression back._

_I began to fumble with my keys, and opened the door._

_Suddenly however, Sayori shot past me inside, kinda abruptly._

_Quietly closing the door, I made my way into the living room, which was overlooked by a balcony and staircase._

_I personally didn't go up there, because of my… history. Because of that, Mom let me have my room on the bottom floor in what was supposed to be a storage room._

"It… it looks so different now."

_Sayori looked conflicted._

_Then she turned around._

"A-Ah sorry! I forgot to explain…"

_Sayori turned back around with a sad smile._

"You see, you live in MC's old house. It's got a lot of memories."

_Sayori walked up to the staircase._

_"His room used to be upstairs, we'd play games and talk a lot. I remember all of the little details about the house too since I used to be here a lot."_

_"It… it was like a second home."_

_Sayori smiled sadly._

"A-A lot has changed though. It looks like they replaced the banister since it was kinda old, though I always thought it was pretty, and the wallpaper got changed from that old pink flower thing MC really kinda hated. Then of course there's all of the new furniture…"

_Sayori sighed._

"I'll be honest, as much as I do want to spend some time together today, coming back here was the one big reason I asked."

_I decided perhaps it was a good time to ask._

"How… long has it been?"

"About two years ago. He stopped coming to school at the start of the 10th grade, he was a year ahead of me."

"I… Kinda actually ended up getting held back for a year after it happened, ehe. That's why i'm still in the 10th grade now, even though I'm 17."

_I kept listening. I think she needs to talk this out._

"It… it really hurt you know? He stopped showing up so suddenly, and when I talked to his parents, they wouldn't even look at me or say anything. I… I didn't know what I did wrong…"

_I walked over and put a hand on Sayori's shoulder._

"You didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes bad things happen to good people…"

_"B-but the look in their eyes! I must have done something to him. It's the only thing that makes sense…"_

_"I promise you, you didn't do anything."_

_Sayori, crying, hugged me, a lot like she did the day we met._

_This time, I hugged back._

"I… I'm sorry… I…"

"It's ok. I promise you didn't do anything wrong. You shouldn't carry this guilt with you."

_I sighed._

"If anyone has anything they did wrong, it's me. You are innocent."

_Sayori looked confused between sobs._

"What… what do you mean?"

_I calmed down, knowing that I needed to say this, for Sayori's sake._

"I… I need to tell you something."

"A story of my greatest mistake."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Quietly, I began to tell my story, a story of two siblings who cared a lot for one another, but one who didn't live up to their expectations._

_A story of how I made the mistake that Killed the one person I cared about most._

_And of how I, with a friend, Hid the crime out of fear and regret._

_It wasn't an easy story to tell. Not at all._

_I mean, it took me 4 years to admit what happened even once. To add to it, there was a risk that Sayori might hate me after this._

_But, in hope that it might help Sayori heal, I told my tale._

_Sayori had stopped crying, that was the first thing. However, I could still see the sadness in her eyes, but a different kind._

"So… that's what's been going on, isn't it?"

"You are haunted by the mistake you made, and it manifests in the real world, following you."

_Sayori went silent for a moment._

_I decided to speak up._

"I'm… I'm sorry that things are this way. However, I can't go back and Undo my mistakes. I'm trying to move on, but…"

_"Sunny, I hope you know that your sister forgives you."_

"H-huh?"

_"I'm being serious. I may not have been your friend for long, and I may not have known her, but I know deep down that Mari isn't still angry at you."_

_"I'm certain she forgave you the moment she passed. She would want you to keep going, to live a full life and still get along with everyone."_

_Honestly, that hit like a truck._

_I… couldn't help but start crying._

_Once again, Sayori hugged me, but this time to comfort me._

"I know it was an accident, and you were scared. You tried what you could to help and didn't know any better. So it's ok."

_I kept crying, unable to stop._

"I… I see why you told me this though. And it must've been hard."

_Sayori smiled sadly._

"You must really care, huh? To admit that just so I would realize MC's disappearance wasn't my fault."

"I won't lie, it's going to take a long time to get past that. But, I made you a promise. We'll keep moving through this together, ok?"

_Sayori smiled._

"It may have only been a week, but I promise. We'll stick through this and both feel better. We just gotta keep fighting."

"And as for your friends back home, I know they will forgive you too. So don't feel bad, ok?"

_This… feeling._

_I can't describe it._

_It's as though I'm at peace , happy and sad all at once._

_I… just can't understand…_

_I hugged Sayori back. We did that for a moment._

"Thank you."

"Don't worry, it's what friends are for Sunny."

"I'll be honest, I've been having some bad thoughts today, but you fixed it, so I have just as much to be thankful for."

_Sayori sprung up._

"Anyway! Why don't we try to do something else? Do you have any Movies?"

_I nodded._

_With that, we both spent the night, laughing and chatting, talking about everything._

_It was a nice experience, something that reminded me back to that last night I spent with my friends back home._

_It felt nostalgic, like a bit of home again._

_It felt nice to be at least partially free, in a way once again._

_...as for my friends back home, I'll keep hope._

_Kel should message me any day now, and hopefully Aubrey will understand too._

_One day, I'll have everyone meet, old and new. It'll be a new group of everyone, something Mari would have loved._

_I'll make sure that day comes someday._

_…_

_Quickly, I grew tired and my eyes closed, and with them, the day Silently came to an end, as I finally felt at peace._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Welcome to White Space_

_You have been here as long as you can remember._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_* 9_ ** _days left before the festival_ ** _*_


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys! Just wanted to get some feedback on the idea of Headspace as a whole.
> 
> Headspace and The real world both are going to exist in this and have plots involved, but i personally don't feel it'd be fun to read when i'd likely have to to rehash much of the headspace environment, past a few set things I already plan to.
> 
> So, my question to you all is this- Do you want a short headspace adventure, or Should I keep the focus on the real world?
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you all prefer, and thank you!

_Omori was awake, as Sunny now rested from the previous day._

_...Omori wasn't exactly happy that Sunny decided to do what he did. Once again he revealed his secret, the one Omori fought so hard to hide._

_That secret, however, wasn't quite Omori's mission anymore. That lightbulb was destroyed. The new one, meanwhile, was still missing._

_Omori would need to work hard to find it._

_Omori booted up his laptop, only to find something wrong yet again._

_...Hangman is complete. Blackspace is already open._

_Blackspace was in essence the deeper mind and underside of headspace, and it was Omori's job to survey it and ensure nothing that went inside would come back out._

_Normally, Omori would each day venture through headspace to find the keys, hunt down through each layer and stop whatever was troubling Sunny._

_But someone had seemingly already completed his job._

_This was disturbing to Omori, to say the least._

_It meant one thing and one thing only._

_Something out there is on his level for once._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Omori could hear the people chattering on both sides of the two doors, so he knew that the soft reset had worked. This time, however, he knew Headspace would likely find a way to ensure things worked as intended._

_As Omori had entered the second door last time, he decided to enter the original this time. Inside, he found the familiar 3, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero._

"Omori! I knew you'd come back for us!" 

_Aubrey rushed up and hugged him. As usual he could care less._

_She stuck out her tongue in Kel's direction._

"I told you he'd come back!"

"Well I mean, after how you acted yesterday I wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't." _Kel seemed uncharacteristically down._

_It seems the previous day had done some harm._

"Now now guys, what matters is Omori is back, and that means no fights today, ok Aubrey?"

_Aubrey pouted a bit._

"Well, I wouldn't have to fight if people didn't keep trying to steal Omori from me."

"Aubrey." _Hero looked serious._

"Fine, i'll let it go."

_Hero turned to me, sighing, clearly glad that was behind everyone._

"Mari and Basil are having a picnic, I was wondering if you wanted to join us today?"

_As I knew this was the only way forward, I agreed._

_"Alright, lets go guys!"_

_Everyone lined up as usual, and we all walked out._

_Keeping that in note, I realized that the new Neighbours room had actually been quite different in actuality, past the colors._

_This one, however, was much more like home, with the giant cat watching over us as we took our leave as normal._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Outside once more, Kel rushed to the front, excited as always._

_"Ok everyone, let's go see Mari and-"_

_"hEYYYY!!! WAIT FOR ME!!!"_

_I see a girl running in the distance. Not watching where she was going, she ran right into Hero, who toppled over._

_Clearly annoyed, Aubrey looked over as Sayori once again made her entrance into headspace._

_Behind her followed Yuri and a rather skittish Natsuki._

"H-Hey, we're cool right? You guys aren't gonna start hitting us this time right?"

_Sayori stood up and helped Hero to his feet._

"Sorry about that, I kinda rush a bit sometimes, ehe…"

_Hero put on his charmed face._

"Not a problem, don't stress over it."

_Sayori, completely oblivious to Hero's face, quickly walked over and hugged me._

_Aubrey of course was furious, but simply looked away._

"Omori! Thank goodness you are ok! I got a little worried after What happened…"

_Sayori remembered something._

"Oh yeah, Aubrey. I just wanted to apologize."

"Huh? Why"

"Well, It's clear you care about Omori a lot, I just scared you since you didn't know who I am right?"

_Sayori sighed._

"So i'm sorry for scaring you. I hope we can be friends in the future."

_Sayori smiled and gave Aubrey a hand._

_Reluctantly, she shook it._

"Alright, just please try not to hug Omori so much…"

"Ehe, no promises."

_Sayori skipped off before Aubrey could react, but she simply sighed._

Quietly, Kel came to the front.

_"Um, guys? Aren't you forgetting about Mari and Basil?"_

_Aubrey hopped up._

"Oh yeah! We were supposed to go see them at the park today. Let's get going."

_The classic dream crew began to walk off, all except Hero, who faced the 3 newcomers._

"Um, you guys can come with us if you want. No pressure, but I'd bet Mari would love to meet you guys."

"Um… who is Mari?" _Yuri quietly asked._

"Oh, I can answer that!" _Sayori hopped up and said._

"Mari is Omori's big sister. You guys probably just haven't met her since _72hruf782 &×;27eh72:27hu7e _

_…_

_…_

_Arriving at the park, everyone looked over to the picnic area._

"Omori!"

_Mari quickly ran over and gave Omori a big hug as always._

"Oh? And who have we here?"

_Mari looked over the group._

"My my, it seems everyones been doubled! That's quite shocking."

"Mari, I'm not a double! I'm 100% authentic and better than any of those losers!"

_Aubrey didn't take the joke well…_

"I was just kidding Aubrey, I know you well enough to know how authentic you are… Although you didn't have to call them losers…"

"B-But they're trying to replace us! They want to be Omori's new friends!"

_Mari was silent at that, before patting Aubrey on the head and smiling._

"Don't worry, they aren't replacing you Aubrey. Omori just has a wider pool of friends now."

"Honestly I'm happy, it's been a while since you brought any new faces Omori."

_Everyone rather stood around for a moment, when suddenly._

_*_ **_snap!_ ** _*_

_"Huh? What was that?" Sayori looked confused._

_Then, out from behind Mari popped Basil._

"Ah, hello! I'm Basil."

"Did you take my picture or something? How creepy…" _Natsuki commented. Basil looked a little sad at this._

"O-Oh, well if you don't like it I can try to not photograph you. I just wanted to capture the first time meeting of all of Omori's new friends is all…"

_Natsuki looked like she made a mistake._

"Um, sorry you just caught me off guard is all. I didn't mean to be mean like that, I really don't mind much…"

Basil smiled. "Oh, well I'm glad then! I can understand being a little camera shy when you don't know someone…"

_As Basil and Natsuki began talking, Mari, Hero and Sayori were in a discussion as well._

_"So, you're saying you guys are in a literature club? I honestly never would've Imagined Omori in one of those…" Hero laughed._

_Sayori smiled. "Yeah! He's actually super good at writing too! He seems to write quite a bit about you guys, so I'm glad to meet you."_

_Mari looked a little shocked by that._

_"Really? Well, it's nice to see my little brother is still thinking about us all out there."_

_"Yeah, he didn't forget you, don't worry. If anything, he seems kinda worried, but It'd be best not to go into that here…"_

_"Agreed." Mari noted._

_"Wait, what do you mean?" Hero asked, but before. He could finish, Kel seemed to run up and shout._

"Hey Hero! I found out from the tall girl that the small one likes to cook. Isn't that cool?"

"Uh, Kel, shouldn't you learn their actual names?" 

"Don't worry Hero, I'm getting to it. Anyway, I'm gonna go back, talk to ya later!"

_Kel ran off as fast as he could._

_In the other direction, Yuri and Aubrey seemed to be having a nice discussion over what looked like Tea._

_…_

_At the very least, Omori could tell this time things weren't going to burn and need a reset._

_Although, he wondered how a party of 6 would turn out, if even humanly possible._

"Hey Omori?"

_Aubrey walked up, with Yuri in tow._

_"So, i was trying to think up how to manage all of the people here, and Yuri presented a good idea"_

_"She suggested the idea of drawing lots to see who gets to be in a group for each area we go."_

_"Personally I think it can work, and the other group can go after for the next area." Yuri commented quietly, Aubrey nodding along._

_"I mean I'd rather be with Omori, but I guess it's kind of unfair to do that." Aubrey silently admitted._

_"So! We should gather everyone and draw!"_

_…_

_Quickly, all but Basil, Mari and Omori got into a line, Aubrey handing straws to each one._

"So, 3 biggest ones go in group one, 3 smallest make up group two. Simple enough right?" (Aubrey)

"E-Eh? But what if i get split from my friends?" _Sayori asked, worried._

"I think the idea is to put us out of our comfort zone and get to know each other. We'll be sharing Headspace from now on after all." _Hero noted._

_Quickly, everyone looked at their pulls._

_Hero made his charmed expression._

"Looks like I drew the biggest straw."

"Oh! I've got a big one too! Does that mean I'm in group one?" _Sayori happily exclaimed._

"Hmm, mine is kinda average." _Kel noted._

"It looks like both Aubrey and I got short ones, so our plan seems to have backfired." _Yuri softly laughed._

_Natsuki meanwhile seemed to be crying._

"W-What kind of mean sorcery is this?"

_The straw she got was the shortest by far._

_…_

_Yuri calmly read the results._

"Alright, it looks like the teams are set. So group one will be Hero, Sayori and Kel, while group 2 will be me, Aubrey, and Natsuki." 

"Awe, I guess I'll be away from you guys for a bit…" _Sayori pouted. Kel quickly patted her on the back._

_"Don't worry! Me and Hero will make sure this is the best adventure ever lady!"_

"It's Sayori by the way."

"Oh, thanks!" _Kel grinned._

_Hero meanwhile sighed, looking at Aubrey._

"You sure you'll be ok? I can swap if you really want."

"Nah, It's fine, I can wait for once. Besides, I just realized I'll be in an all-girl group for once! I'm sure it'll be fun."

"J-just please don't hit me this time."

"I promise I won't Natsuki. Sorry about that." _Aubrey patted Natsuki on the head._

_With everything out of the way, Sayori looked at me._

"So Omori, where are we going?"

_In this world, the path of progression was simple regularly. First was the forest, then Otherworld, The Spider Forest, which Omori particularly despised, and finally Deep Well._

_With that, I approached Basil._

"Hi Omori! Did you need something?"

_I looked to Basil as I normally would, to which he nodded._

"Ok everyone, Omori and I are going to head to my house down in the woods. If anyone needs anything, just let me know!"

"See you later Omori!" _Aubrey smiled and waved. Natsuki and Yuri meanwhile simply watched_.

"Stay safe Omori, and remember I'm here if you need me!" _Mari smiled._

_With that, we began our walk down the path to Basil's home._

_Normally, Basil would give us a rundown of his various flowers, although he laughed a bit instead this time._

"You know, I can't wait to pick out flowers for you guys. It's something I always do for my friends, a little thing to show what everyone means to me."

_Sayori smiled at this._ "I'm sure we'll love it once it's all set up. Flowers are super pretty!"

"Cactuses are cool too!" _Kel added._

"Huh? Isn't it supposed to be cacti? Also why did you bring that up all of a sudden?" _Sayori asked._

_As she did, we passed Kel's section._

"I actually think Kel can be represented by Cacti pretty well, they are super resilient." _Basil commented._

"Oh really? Maybe that's where Omori got that one joke about Natsuki."

"Huh?"

"Omori showed me this really funny drawing the other day, calling Natsuki a cactus." _Sayori laughed._

"Huh? But after talking to her for a bit she actually seemed pretty nice." _Basil commented._

"Well, I have to agree with Omori personally- She's Strong and super prickly on the outside, but really sweet on the inside!" _Sayori laughed._

_"Ah, I guess I can see it." Hero mumbled, unsure what to contribute._

"Next time I see her I'll form a pact on it! Cacti for life!" _Kel grinned widely._

"U-Um, I'm probably gonna pick something else for her instead… I'll get to thinking soon." _Basil smiled._

_As we kept wandering, we arrived at Basil's house._

_…_

_Basil was the first to speak up._

_"O-Ok everyone! We made it! So um, Omori, what was it that-"_

_A light and familiar laugh rang through the air._

"Huh? Who's that?" _Basil asked, confused._

_"Nobody important, I'm just passing through. Just found what you said funny, since it's kinda my thing."_

_Everyone was a bit silent for a moment._

"Um, what's your name though?" _Kel asked._

_A dark figure stepped out of the house_

_"Just Monika's fine."_

"Monika? What are you doing out here? I would've thought you'd have met with us at neighbours ' room!" _Sayori asked, confused._

_Monika sighed a little._

"Right, I forgot my clubmates are here now. That's a bit annoying..."

"Eh? What do you7fy27÷746.÷&g=*=*???"

_…_

_What on earth just happened?_

_Everyone seemed to be frozen in place._

"Sorry about this, but you're kinda in the way right now, dreamer. Hope you don't mind if I put you back to sleep for a bit."

Before I could react, I was forced into Basil's house by an unknown force. 

Inside lay the Abyss of Blackspace.

"I know you can easily just get back out of there, but I need to make some adjustments. Anyway, poetic as it is, have a nice fall!"

_Before I could draw my knife, two hands pushed me into the abyss._

_…_

_Welcome to Black Space_

_You have been here as long as 3!7 &÷\\*8€y _

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Sunny abruptly woke up, shaken awake by something. Looking around, he noticed it was already morning, and Sayori had left at some point, likely when he fell asleep._

_Checking the mirror, he saw nothing behind him, but did see a new posted note from his mom, likely left this morning._

_"Make sure to get the groceries on the list I left. Also, your new girlfriend is cute. Love, Mom."_

_…_

_God damnit..._

_Well, I guess I was wrong then… That's gonna be a lot of explaining later…_

_Still, right now the dream was his biggest worry, as it would seem somehow Monika got into his dreams._

_Well, not exactly, but it sure felt like it…_

_As Sunny figured, it was probably just that the stuff from the day before cascaded into his dreams._

_You see, Sunny's dreams often take the shape of his world, rather vividly._

_Still, he couldn't help but feel like something was wrong._

_Trying to calm himself down, Sunny decided to have a healthy breakfast of microwaved fridge steak, a personal favorite._

_Healthy? No. Breakfast? Not really. But he didn't actually care._

_Sunny decided to take a look at the grocery list mom left. It wasn't too long, so it wouldn't be a problem._

_Sunny wasn't big on chores. Granted, he never really tried doing them much in the time he spent in his room, as he felt he didn't need to._

_Still, recently he realized that he was being rather unfair to his mom by leaving everything unclean, so he at least started to pick up places other than his room._

_Store runs too weren't really a thing before, but after his time with Kel, he honestly didn't seem to mind it that much._

_If only Kel were here…_

_…_

_Walking to the store, Sunny realized how much he hoped that Kel's messages would come soon. After all, Kel in those few days probably was the person who helped Sunny most, and he needed to thank him._

_Still, he would wait as long as needed. At least it sounded like it might happen today or tomorrow._

_Entering the Store, Sunny began to search for what he needed to get._

_..._

"Ah, Mr.Omosu? I take it you are shopping?"

_Sunny unknowingly bumped into his homeroom teacher while at the store._

"My, what a good memory you must have to not even need a list. I must say, that's impressive."

_Sunny smiled at the comment as the man adjusted his glasses._

"Well, make sure to get any homework for your other classes done anyway, I'll see you on Monday morning."

_Sunny continued along, searching the entire store._

_Getting to the fruit section, he had a flashback to the time he slapped himself repeatedly trying to kill a fly in one of these things…_

_Goodness, he had quite the colorful experience that week…_

"Sunny?"

_Hearing another familiar voice, Sunny spotted Yuri in a sweater with a shopping cart._

_Strange, I wonder why she'd be wearing one of those in september, it's still pretty hot out._

"Hi Yuri, how are you?"

"Everything is going well, I'm just doing a short grocery run. Definitely didn't expect to see you here though…"

_Yuri looked up, seeming to notice my eyepatch._

"Um… may I ask about the scar?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

_Yuri looked down a bit._

_"W-Well, I've just never seen you without your eyepatch before, and-"_

_"Wait, I don't have my eyepatch?"_

_Yuri nodded._

_...oh boy…_

"i um… well uh."

"..."

"It's ok, you don't need to talk about it Sunny." 

"thanks for understanding…"

_Yuri noticed something else._

_"By the way, I'm not sure if you noticed, but you've started speaking quite a bit over the last week."_

_Huh… that's actually sort of true._

_That Definitely wasn't something I could easily do before…_

"Sorry for pointing it out, I'm just glad for you."

_Yuri smiled a soft smile._

"You have a really nice voice, so it's nice to actually hear it."

_"Wait- I-I MEAN you uh… uh…"_

_Yuri seemed to short circuit for a moment._

"it's fine yuri. i appreciate it."

_Still short circuiting, I decided to leave her be and go find my eyepatch._

_It's not to that it's embarrassing as much as a risk to leave it open, since it could get infected. On top of that, the lack of an eye can be rather menacing to some people…_

_…_

_After walking for a moment, I found it laying in the middle of the isle where I talked to my Homeroom Teacher._

_Quickly putting it back on, it kinda confused me how it fell off to begin with, since I usually put it on pretty tight._

_Well, it's fine either way, I guess._

_*bzzz*_

_I felt my Phone Buzz and my head lit up for a moment._

_Feeling anticipation, I looked at my phone._

_|Unknown Number sent an attachment.|_

_(It's a picture of a cat playing basketball, with the tagline "Catastrophe strikes when you least expect. Don't drop the ball.")_

_A little confused, but 90% certain it was Kel, I sent a message._

_|Sunny- So majestic..._

_A minute later, I got a reply._

_|Unknown Number- So beautiful…_

_Yep, that's Kel._

_Grinning to myself, happy that I'll finally get my chance to talk to Kel again, I rushed and found all of the groceries, paid and ran straight home._

_Now at home, I finally messaged Kel and began the conversation._

_|Sunny- Just got home if you want to talk._

_|Sunny- Hope everything has been alright since I left._

_|Kel- Ah yeah, it's been ok, just kinda busy._

_|Kel- Mom grounded me when she found out I kinda started the whole Basil episode from Hero, so I just got off a few days ago_

_|Kel- You know how mom was when you were here, it was just a full week of chores, and it didn't help that for the first 2 days Hero kinda locked himself in his room._

_Ah, that's not good…_

_|Sunny- Is Hero doing ok?_

_|Kel- He's alright, just a little down as you'd expect._

_|Kel- I don't think he's over what happened yet, but he doesn't seem to hate you and Basil or anything if you're worried._

_|Sunny- What about you?_

_|Kel- Well, you kinda just did what Aubrey did but worse, I know you didn't mean it._

_|Kel- Don't get me wrong, you really messed up and everyone I think has a right to be mad, especially with the way you covered it up._

_|Kel- I just don't understand which one of you even thought that made sense… An accident is an accident, you probably couldn't have made a worse call._

_He's completely right, honestly._

_|Sunny- I'm sorry for everything. I know that doesn't make it up, but I really am._

_|Kel- Well of course, that's pretty obvious since you even said anything. It's probably why I can't keep being mad at you over it._

_|Kel- I mean I'm not gonna forget you did it, but I won't hold it against you or bring it up unless you wanna talk about it._

_|Sunny- Thank you._

_|Kel- No problem, it's what friends are for._

_It's good to hear he still does see me as one._

_I mean, hearing from Basil is one thing, but now I can be sure I at least have Kel back to an extent._

_|Kel- So, What's the new town like? Did you enroll back in school?"_

_|Sunny- Town is pretty nice, only a little bigger than Faraway. And yeah, I'm back in school, got a Tutor to catch up and everything._

_|Kel- Sweet! Hopefully you can make some new friends there too. It'd be good since I can't come and make you leave your house this time._

_I smiled a little at that._

_|Sunny- I did make a few friends, joined a club too._

_|Kel- Oh? What'd you join? I feel like you'd probably suit a gardening club or anime club or something._

_|Sunny- Well, it's actually a literature club. We do poems and stuff._

_|Kel- Uh, alright then! That sounds kinda boring but I won't judge._

_|Sunny- It's been surprisingly fun. Met quite a few new people. All girls though._

_|Kel- Eh? That's kinda weird isn't it?_

_|Sunny- I'm used to it at this point, though I didn't expect it._

_Kel took a moment to reply again._

_|Kel- Any cute ones?_

_|Sunny- Why does everyone default to stuff like that?_

_|Kel- I dunno, it's just what you ask. Just let me know if you get married to someone or whatever so Everyone can come crash it._

_|Sunny- I'm not sure how to respond to that_

_For a while, we kept talking with small talk and banter._

_It was a nice change of pace, since Kel has a sorta feeling to him that's hard to find in most places._

_Honestly, without Kel's help, I might not be here today, morbid as it is to admit._

_So, i'm definitely thankful._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*bzzt*_

_Hmm, another text?_

_It was getting into the evening, so Kel had to go do stuff and so he took off, leaving me sitting in my room staring at nothing as always._

_I've never really watched much t.v. nowadays, so I kinda just leave the static on in the back as I do whatever. I can only imagine how scary it'd look to an outsider._

_I looked at my phone._

_|Unknown Number- Hey Sunny, it's me Sayori! Just got home from the Doctors a little bit ago, hope you had a good day! (:_

_Quickly I typed out a response._

|Sunny- How did you figure out my phone number?

|Sayori- I remembered it from the other day.

_Oh, right i forgot about that._

_|Sunny- Everything is going pretty good, just got finished talking to my old friend Kel._

_|Sunny- You guys seem a bit similar, so maybe i could make a group chat sometime._

_|Sayori- Sure! I've actually been super curious what the other friends of yours are like._

_Well, that'll be a nice thing to try someday._

_|Sunny- Anyway, I'm heading off to sleep for the night, so I guess I'll talk to ya tomorrow._

_|Sayori- Later!_

_With that, I laid back down on my bed, staring at the ceiling as my eyes got heavier and heavier._

_As I did though, a bit of a thought crossed my mind._

_My phone wouldn't say the number in a text chat like that, it only says the person you are talking to…_

_How the hell did Sayori get my number?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Earlier that day._

_|Unknown Number- Sorry to bother you, but are you a friend of Sunny Omosu?"_

_|Basil- Yes? May I ask who this is?_

_|Unknown Number- Just a new friend from school, wanted to find out his phone number since I saw him messaging you before._

_|Basil- Um… Alright?_

_|Basil- You aren't like a stalker or anything right?_

_|Unknown Number- Nope, just forgot to ask it from him last night. I'm Sayori by the way._

_|Basil- Ah, nice to meet you!_

_|Sayori- Same here (:_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Welcome to White Space_

_You have be2333i3838283_

_…_

_Omori awoke once more, back in White Space and rather confused._

_Sighing, he opened the door to Neighbor's room, finding it oddly empty._

_This is going to be a frustrating run, isn't it? He thought to himself._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_* 8_ ** _days left before the festival_ ** _*_


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned, the story shall begin delving into darker topics as the chapters go forward from here. Be wary as you continue forward.

_As Omori stood quietly in neighbours ' room, he began to think of what exactly took place._

_He previously had left with the dreamworld cast he normally had adventures with, met with Mari and the new cast, and left for Basil's house, which in any normal run, would trigger the disappearance of Basil and begin his quest._

_This isn't what happened._

_He was unsure why he felt things would go so normally after everything so far._

_The opening and completion of Hanged man, the invasion of whitespace as he slept, and finally the subsequent disappearance of the new lightbulb. They all should've said enough._

_Everything pointed to a foul run, and yet Omori decided to ignore such evidence. For that, he was disappointed._

_Despite this, Omori felt the need to continue on his quest._

_The forest was rather unimportant all things considered, but he at the very least needed to complete any tasks required out of OtherWorld, Pyrfly, and Deep Well._

_Firs%, though, Omor1 would need to locate hi5 friends._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Arriving at the park, I was rather surprised to see Mari and the self proclaimed "team 2." still there._

"Omori! I thought you left with the others?"

_Aubrey ran up, happy but confused._

"Did you miss me that much?"

_I stood there quietly, to which Mari finally spoke up._

"...Something happened, huh?"

_Mari looked rather mellow compared to her normal happy expression. This made Aubrey look concerned._

"Omori, I can see in your eyes that something is wrong. Something happened to the others, right?"

"What? What happened to Hero and Kel?" _Aubrey looked super upset._

"Y-Yeah, and what about Sayori? Don't tell me she got into trouble again…" _Natsuki mumbled._

_Everyone sat in silence, before Mari once again spoke up._

"Well Omori, it looks like you have another journey ahead, don't you?"

_Mari smiled._

_"Be safe and strong for me, ok? I'm sure you can find everyone if you work hard enough."_

_In reality, Omori could really care less about the missing friends, and Mari knew this. After all, she wasn't talking to him._

_For Omori, they were simply another task to help him push toward his goal._

"Well, if they are in trouble, we all need to go get them back!" _Aubrey stated intently._

"I agree." _Yuri quietly commented as we began walking north._

_…_

_The first stop this time will be Otherworld. The Vast Forest likely has nothing of use now, and although the cast was at their earliest levels, They could get through Otherworld without much Difficulty._

_Arriving at the giant ladder, Yuri seemed to marvel at it for a moment, while Natsuki just plain looked intimidated._

"A-Are you sure they might be up here? It seems like a l-long way up and down…"

"It's a start. And hopefully we might be able to get some help here." _Aubrey commented, clearly taking this search seriously._

_As everyone climbed, Natsuki started rambling._

"U-Um Omori?" 

"Are you sure everyone is ok out there? I-I mean we don't even know what took them…"

"D-Do you know Omori?"

_I remained quiet._

"I guess not then… I hope Sayori is ok…"

_…_

_At the top, we arrived in Otherworld._

_Soon, Mari was there to greet us at her usual picnic._

"Good to see you Omori, although I wish this was under better circumstances."

"Because of everyone being captured?"

_Mari sighed._

"Well yeah, but also apparently there's a big funeral going on in Otherworld."

"Huh? What for?" _Aubrey asked._

"W-Well…"

_As we stood there, a space pirate rushed past, along with another._

"B-Bro, I can't believe this happened…"

"He… Captain was a good man. He just got lost is all."

"Now… he's back home in the stars."

_The pirates continued._

"No… Please don't tell me this is what I think it is?" _Aubrey's tears were rolling._

"I'm afraid so. Captain Spaceboy is gone."

"Why? WHY IS ALL OF THIS HAPPENING TODAY?" _Aubrey looked furious while crying. Mari gave her a hug._

"Sadly there isn't anything you could've done. Sometimes you can't stop things from happening."

_Yuri looked like she wanted to say something._

"I… I may not have met the captain, but clearly he meant something to you. Just know that he probably was in pain, and-"

"U-Um Yuri, that's a little-"

_"...S-Sorry Natsuki, I just wanted to help…"_

_…_

_The silence was rather deafening. Still, the loss of spaceboy was concerning, as Normally his mission would be the focus of Otherworld._

_Omori couldn't help but wonder if the two days he was delayed resulted in it happening, and if there was anything that could have prevented this._

_Strictly, that was since Spaceboy was needed for the normal story. It's not like Omori could actually feel anything besides misery anyway._

"Hey Omori? I know you probably wanted to go to Otherworld today, but I think it'll be better if you go to Pyrefly for a bit. I know it might be a bit hard to get through, but I'll do what I can to help." _Mari smiled._

_I looked at her, tilting my head a little._

"It's just a feeling Omori, don't worry."

_With that, we began walking back down the way we came, Natsuki complaining the entire time about having climbed up for no reason. Aubrey meanwhile was silent, and Yuri was downcast._

_Personally, Omori didn't care._

_Quickly, the group went the opposite direction, straight to Pyrfly forest, Omori's least favorite area._

_As he walked, he noticed the odd lack of Mari at her usual spot, and the fact that the forest seemed to have some… issues. Missing textures and other things._

_Omori felt as though the entire time he was being watched._

_Despite this, there were none of the usual enemies, not even the terrible spidercats. God he hated them._

_As he continued, he noticed that the Cart's path had been unblocked, however it left only a thin trail of track out into blackness._

_Wanting answers, Omori boarded the cart with his team._

_..._

_As the cart left, he noticed something._

_As he left, they all seemed strangely silent._

_Everything about this area was ringing red flags. Yet Omori kept going, for it was his job._

_…_

_Fairly soon, Omori arrived at what should be the start of Sweetheart's castle._

_He could see very clearly however, that wasn't the case anymore._

"Why hello again Dreamer! Or do you prefer Omori?"

Behind him, the entity, Monika, stood with a grin.

"Well, I could call you Sunny too, but I know that's not who you are."

_Monika smiled deeply. Omori simply drew his knife._

"Ah, ready to fight already? I feel like that'd be an anticlimactic way to end things, like going into an area only to be stopped by a funeral and immediately leave."

_Monika laughed._

"But in seriousness, I feel bad for that guy. He froze to death all alone on a mountain that no longer exists. Strange how this world works, isn't it?"

"I mean, it's not like I even did anything. That was just something carried over from the last world I guess. You see, this world didn't form properly."

_Monika laughed._

"It's a bit my fault though, I mean I was the one who broke into Blackspace early and everything. This area of the map didn't generate right, so I wanted to talk to the castle's keeper. Turns out he doesn't exist anymore."

_As she spoke, I quietly moved forward, preparing for a sneak attack._

"You know I'm not stupid right? I mean, I know you aren't either, but that's besides the point. I'm not going to let you kill me here."

"I mean, that's why I invited you. This is my little corner of headspace now."

_As I watched, the area lit up and reformed into a little room. Monika took a seat as she chatted._

"So Omori, wonder where your friends are?"

_I stared._

"No? Well that's fine, it's not like you'd be able to get to them right now regardless."

"I know you only see them as pawns anyway. But why am I rambling to you?"

_Monika stood back up as the area reformed and took an appearance similar to that of Whitespace._

"I mean, you are one of the things standing in my way."

"Likewise." _I stated calmly._

"Oh, so you _can_ speak."

_I drew my knife once more._

"It doesn't matter when you're going to be destroyed."

"Ah, so that's how it is. Well, to be expected from a corrupted defense mechanism."

_I'm tired of waiting._

_I lunged forward, landing a stab._

_IT HIT RIGHT IN THE HEART!_

_-5837!_

_Monika simply smiled._

"Ehe. You need to take a nap."

7272\3&7d7dueje88f8fcii2i2j2n2bej8ij282j2j3h38ee8e8r88f8f8g8g8f8s88x8x8x8x8c8e883j3ijkk&÷\\!\\\÷88!!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Sunny awoke to the sound of his phone beeping loudly and buzzing dramatically._

_In a sleepy Daze, he read the text message he just recieved._

_|Kel sent an attachment|_

_(It's a picture of a Monkey with the tagline "Help.")_

_He sighs._

_Getting up, Sunny walks over to the mirror. Nothing today but a new note from Mom._

_"Hope you are doing ok on your own, work has been running super late recently. If you can, please sweep the spare bedroom, I want to make it my new work room._

_Love, Mom."_

_Sunny sighs, deciding he can talk with Kel a little later. It's better to get chores done early before they stack up a ton._

_Grabbing the broom, he quietly, and very carefully walked upstairs to the spare bedroom._

_As mentioned before, Sunny lived in the technical dining room as he was anxious around stairs. He actually asked his mom to do this after they moved, to which she reluctantly accepted._

_The result was that, despite having two bedrooms, only one was used. The other meanwhile was rather empty, just a bare floor with rather ugly wallpaper._

_Speaking of which, the paper wasn't even flush with the wall to begin with._

_Sunny really didn't like this room, he pretty much never came in, save for the first day in the house._

_Sighing, he began to sweep._

_*Swish, Swish*_

_*Swish, Swish*_

_*Swish, Swish*_

_*Swish Ripppp*_

_…_

_Sunny, focused heavily into sweeping the room, snapped out to realize that the broom had torn right through the wallpaper and into the wall._

_...Mom is going to kill me, he thought._

_That is, until he noticed it._

_…_

_Wait, why doesn't the wall have a baseboard to begin with? And why is the wall not here?_

_This is a bit weird…_

_Confused, Sunny poked at the wall in other places, noticing that the wall only touched the paper in a few spots._

_Is… is it a broken wall?_

_Sunny's better judgement said not to mess with the paper, but his curiosity got the better of him._

_Quickly, Sunny peeled down that wall's wallpaper, little by little._

_To his surprise, there wasn't hole in the wall behind it, but rather a massive, flat desk and bookcase of sorts._

_Looking at how large they were, Sunny could imagine that the previous owners just didn't bother to move them._

_Oh, that's why they covered it. I guess they just decided to wallpaper over it instead of having to break it down and throw it out._

_Kinda convoluted, but alright I guess…_

_The desk-case, whatever it was, was very dusty, and Sunny had an intense urge to sneeze just by looking at it._

_Looking closer, he noticed lots of little papers scattered all over the place._

_Man, they must've not really bothered with cleaning it out either. The owners probably just grabbed what they wanted and left._

_He grabbed a paper._

_…_

_Oh, it's an old mail envelope. It's already opened, so whatever was in it's gone._

_Sunny kept checking papers for whatever reason, kinda curious as to if anything interesting got left behind._

_Most of them seemed to be old, opened envelopes._

_Grabbing another one, something felt a little… different._

_This one had a little character drawn on it, but more importantly, it had a name on it._

_"From Monika Banks."_

_Huh? Why would the people here have mail from a high-schooler?_

_I mean-_

_Oh._

_Sunny realized who the desk probably belonged to and decided it was for the best not to dig through it anymore._

_As such, he went back to his room and began to talk to Kel, trying to forget he found anything._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_|Sayori- Hey Basil! How are you today?_

_|Basil- I'm alright. Surprised to hear from you again, do you need something?_

_|Sayori- Not really, just out shopping with a friend and wanted to check up with you._

_|Basil- Why would you need to do that?_

_|Sayori- It's not that I need to, Just figured i'd check in since I know you're one of Sunny's close friends._

_|Basil- Oh, I guess that makes sense._

_|Basil- You must care quite a bit about Sunny, huh?_

_|Sayori- Well of course! He's a great friend._

_|Basil- Well yeah, though I_

_|Basil- Nevermind_

_|Sayori- What is it?_

_|Basil- Nothing, don't worry. But um_

_|Basil- I'm doing ok, not like there's anything to worry about._

_|Sayori- That's fine then. Let me know if you ever wanna chat!_

_|Basil- Thanks, I'll consider it._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I quietly sat there as I finished my conversation with Kel. Apparently he ended up being asked out by the one artist girl we spoke to before I left, and he was kinda unsure what to do about it._

_I helped with the best advice I could, internally laughing at the irony of this, paired with the jab at him Kel made yesterday._

_Either way, my chores were done, so I decided to take a walk._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Sunny's house had one nice little extra bonus that had yet to be mentioned so far._

_As it turned out, his backyard was like a little hangout spot, with a pond and everything, and just a little past it through probably about 10 yards of woods was a park._

_Sunny had yet to visit the park himself yet, but he wanted to check it out_

_So, walking past the little pond and out of his backyard, Sunny crossed through the woods and into the park._

_As he started however, Sunny got a rather bad feeling as his surroundings seemed to darken._

_That's when he started noticing the spiderwebs._

_At first, he just walked past them, but more and more seemed to appear._

_It seemed as though the distance to the park had gotten longer, so Sunny turned around, only to find his exit blocked by a massive spider._

_Terrified, Sunny started running, but he was being slowed by the webs. They got thicker and thicker, restraining him._

_Soon he couldn't move. All he could do was watch as it got closer and closer._

_"sunny? sunny are you ok?"_

_The spider seemed to speak in a singsong voice, almost mocking him._

_Suddenly, the cobwebs and everything faded as someone took a tree branch and smashed down the web in front of him, killing the big spider that sat in the center._

"Sunny? Are you doing ok there?"

_I looked up, surprised to see Monika looking back._

_I quietly tried to reply._

"i… sorry, I get really scared by spiders..."

"Don't worry, everyone has their own set of fears. I mean I have a fear of heights and clowns for example."

_Monika made a finger gun, pointing at the remains of the spiderweb._

"What matters is you do your best to overcome your fears. And if you can't yet, don't worry, you'll get there eventually."

"After all, it's ok to be afraid every once in a while."

_Speaking of fear, I had a bit of a flashback to the dreams I had last night…_

_Why on earth is Monika so overly present in my dreams?_

"Uh, Sunny? You're kind spacing out a bit…" _Monika seemed a little unsure what to say._

"Oh, sorry."

_We stood there for a moment._

_Weirdly, I had an urge to ask about the dreams I had. I mean, I know they aren't real, but maybe she can figure out why._

"Hey, Monika?"

"Yeah? What's up Sunny?"

"For some reason, lately when i've been sleeping, you keep showing up in dreams and well, stopping them."

_Monika looked confused._

"Uh, Sunny that's…"

_Then, she got a devilish grin._

"I'm flattered, but are you sure this is the best time to flirt with me?"

"H-Huh?"

"I mean that's a pretty cheesy pickup line, and I've heard quite a few."

_"..."_

_"Awe come on, I'm kidding. If anything, it's probably because I keep showing up kinda abruptly. I mean Piano made me late quite a few days, and otherwise I've been popping in and out at random."_

_Monika looked up._

"Actually, this is probably the longest we've ever had a conversation."

_I kinda sat there for a moment, before I thought of something._

"By the way Monika, I was wondering something from the other day."

"Sure, what's up?"

"You seem extremely popular, so why don't you have a boyfriend?"

_Monika's eyes flashed a very weird way and she had a rather… odd expression for a split second. Extremely quickly however, her face recovered into a reluctant smile._

"Huh? You aren't actually flirting this time right? I don't know how i'd respond to that."

_I shook my head._

"No, I'm just curious. I always thought popular people would find relationships quickly. Is it just that you like being on your own?"

_Again, that face flashed for a second._

"You could say that… but I uh, i'd prefer not to talk about this stuff."

"I understand, sorry."

"No big deal! I mean, it's a legitimate question. You just caught me off guard."

"I don't know why, I just felt I needed to ask that for some reason."

"..." _Monika kinda just stood there for a moment, as if frozen_.

"Well anyway, I should get going, I'll see you at the club tomorrow Sunny!"

_Monika seemed to walk off quickly._

_…_

_Yeah, something was up there. I think I struck a nerve or something._

_I wonder why though?_

_Well, I'll try not to talk about that again, it was super awkward honestly._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_While continuing my walk, I noticed a familiar face I hadn't seen for a little while, sitting on a bench._

"Natsuki? How have you been doing?"

"H-Huh?" _She seemed to spring up, a bit of fear in her eyes. When she noticed it was just me however, she sighed and sat back down._

"O-Oh, it's just you Sunny. Sorry, I'm… I'm having a moment."

_I sat down next to her as she scooted over a little._

_As I watched her, she looked very, very sad. I decided to try to figure out what happened._

"Is… is everything ok?"

"Its uh… I. It's a… It's a bad day. That's all you need to know…"

_Natsuki seemed to be fighting herself a bit there. It was clear something was bothering her, but she refused to admit it._

_Thinking about it, I wondered if maybe she might talk easier if she wasn't out in public._

"Hey Natsuki, are you hungry?"

"H-Huh? Why do you always ask that? I-I'm just small is all…"

_That seemed like a bit of an excuse._

"I just wanted to ask as I just got some groceries yesterday."

_Natsuki still held off a bit._

"I'm… i'm fine, really. I'm just having a rough day is all."

_…_

_I'm unsure what to exactly do. I don't want to just leave her here, she's clearly not doing well._

_Hmm._

_Actually, I just got an idea._

"Natsuki, you like to bake, right?"

_Natsuki looked up._

"W-Well yeah, why do you ask?"

"I actually was wondering if you would want to teach me some of how you do it. After all…"

_I thought back to the horrible cake I made once back when I was younger for Aubrey's birthday, before Hero and Mari remade it…_

_"...I'm not the most experienced at cooking…"_

_Natsuki sat there, seemingly considering her options._

"Well, I guess that might be fun… As long as you don't mind following directions."

_Good, it worked._

_I stood up, and she followed._

"A-Anyway, we should go ahead and work on this, since I need to b-be home before it gets dark..."

_Deciding to take the shortcut yet again, thankfully there were no spiders to stop us._

_Quickly we entered the kitchen, and Natsuki quietly walked up to the front._

"Alright, so you said you don't know much. Thankfully I'm pretty much a master at this stuff, so if you follow my directions, we won't have many problems."

_"First, let's get our ingredients. We'll need Eggs, Milk, sugar, whichever mix you want to use, and whatever toppings you want to go with."_

_F_ or the sake of simplicity (and hopefully baking redemption), I decided to make a Simple Vanilla Cake with strawberry icing.

"So, for the sake of making this a little easier, we'll do cupcakes this time, as it doesn't involve layering or other kinda hard things for beginners." 

_Natsuki, clearly cheering up a little, gave a signature toothy grin_

"If you do well enough this time, I might show you how to bake other stuff another day."

_I started grabbing ingredients as she talked._

"Personally I mostly do cupcakes anyway, but I do know how to do other stuff, it just usually gets… Wasted…" _Natsuki looked kinda unhappy at that last bit._

"B-But anyway, are you gonna just make me stand here or are you going to get everything out already? I don't have all day!"

_I did my best to rush and grab everything._

_Quickly, everything was out. Carrying the eggs, the last ingredient, I tripped and slammed my face into the ground._

"Ahhh! Are you ok? I-I mean- WHAT THE HELL? Are you trying to make a mess? I know it's your house, but jeese, watch where you are going…"

_Natsuki helped me up._

_Looking at the eggs, thankfully only 3 broke as I landed._

_Mom is going to kill me yet again later, so I'd better make a good cupcake to cover for that…_

_Finally off the floor, Natsuki continued._

"Alright, now you mix everything together."

_Quietly, I dumped everything into the bowl._

"W-WHAT? _NO YOU DON'T PUT THE TOPPING IN TOO THAT'LL- JESUS JUST LET ME DO IT!"_

_Natsuki quickly pushed me out of the way before I could mess up the mixture any worse._

"God, what are you, 12? Jeese…"

"Even Sayori would bake better, and she'd try to eat everything before it's cooked…"

_Natsuki sighed._

"Here, now look. *This* is what cake batter is supposed to look like."

_Looking at it, it actually looked pretty good. Natsuki gave a grin._

"Alright, this next step there is literally no way to mess up."

_Try me._

_Natsuki handed me a cupcake pan._

"I'd have brought my own set if I knew we'd be doing this today, but this will have to do."

"Just pour the mixture into the pan."

_I did, and thankfully, nothing went wrong this time._

_"Alright, now we just put it in the oven and- Wait, you pre-heated the oven, right?"_

"Was I supposed to?"

_Natsuki looked disappointed._

"I Should've just expected this at this point."

_I walked over to the oven, setting the temperature, putting the pan in._

"W-Wait, you have to _pre-Heat it, not just stick it in! And how the hell do you think it'll get cooked when it's set to 75 degrees? That's colder than outside!"_

_"I didn't even know ovens could be set that low!"_

_Natsuki, laughing and pulling the pan out, while setting the correct temperature, just shook her head._

"Man, I thought you were smarter than that… You're hopeless at baking Sunny…"

"Yeah, I know…" I admitted.

"Well, then why did you invite me over? I mean all you did was embarrass yourself at every possible turn..."

_I sighed._

"You looked really upset, so I thought it'd help you feel better."

_Natsuki frowned a little, but then went back to smiling._

"Well, I was having a really bad day so far, but you helped by showing me how skilled I really am. I never knew people could be so bad at this…"

_We both laughed a little._

"I tried to make a cake for my friend when i was younger, it went as bad as you'd expect."

"It was for her birthday, so my sister and another friend of mine who was good at cooking made a much nicer one."

_Natsuki looked over._

"Oh? You have a sister?"

_I looked down._

"I used to."

_"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that…"_

_We both kinda sat there for a moment._

"Well, for what it's worth, i'm sure she'd be proud of you for trying again, even if it didn't go too well."

"I mean, I don't have a sister myself, but that's what I think they are there for, to support you."

_Natsuki grinned and continued._

"I bet if they were here, they would say something like 'Wow! Sunny made a cake that didn't burn the house down and actually tastes good! I'm super impressed!'"

"And they would probably smile and be super happy that you did your best."

_I smiled._

"Thank you."

_Natsuki's face turned._

"Oh, uh right. No problem."

_We sat there for a moment, Natsuki turning to watch her cupcakes._

"By the way, what are your parents like Sunny?"

_I tried to think of the right words to say._

"Oh, well… After my sister passed away, my dad left. And my Mom is really busy Nowadays, but she tries her best."

"She's a good mom despite everything, so i've been trying to get better for her."

_Natsuki frowned a little._

"It sounds nice to have a caring mom, even if she isn't the most active."

_Suddenly, the oven beeped._

"Oh! They're done."

_Natsuki pulled out the pan, with 8 cupcake bases._

_"Anyway, now we just gotta let them cool a little, then we can do the icing."_

_For the moment, we kept talking as we waited._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_|Sayori- Hey Basil, what kind of stuff do you do for fun?_

_|Basil- Huh? Oh, I do gardening personally. It's probably my biggest hobby overall._

_|Sayori- Do you grow flowers?_

_|Basil- Yeah! Here, I'll show you a few._

_|Basil sent 3 attachments|_

_|Sayori- OMG they're so beautiful! How on earth do you make them look like that?_

_|Basil- Just a lot of patience and caring really. With enough dedication, any flower can bloom and be beautiful after all._

_|Sayori- That's actually kinda inspiring, I might have to save that line for later._

_|Sayori- But yeah, honestly they look super pretty. I wish i wasn't so clumsy around plants._

_|Basil- Well, I'm sure it's not that bad._

_|Sayori- I kinda tripped and knocked a flower pot out of my balcony._

_|Basil- That's not that bad_

_|Sayori- It happened 3 separate times._

_…_

_|Basil- Um, Alright, I have an idea then._

_|Basil- Why not try getting a little cactus for inside your windowsill? They look nice and they are especially hard to kill._

_|Sayori- That's kinda ironic, Sunny drew one of those a few days ago. He said my friend Natsuki reminded him of one._

_|Basil- Oh boy, I hope they didn't see that. Not everyone takes that as a compliment like Kel._

_|Sayori- Kel?_

_|Basil- Ah, sorry he's part of me and Sunny's friend circle. Way back when I picked flowers for everyone by whatever traits I admired most._

_|Sayori- That honestly sounds nice, I bet that's where Sunny got the joke._

_|Sayori- Just curious, But what kind of flower would I be?_

_|Basil- Oh, sorry it's a little too soon to know_

_|Sayori- Awe…_

_|Basil- Don't worry, I'll get back to you on it._

_|Sayori- I look forward to it! (:_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_As time passed, Sunny and Natsuki's cupcakes cooled and they dressed them with Icing. Well, Mostly Natsuki did._

_Either way, both look proud._

"Well congrats Sunny, you officially made 10% of a really good tray of cupcakes. Maybe next time you'll be able to do some on your own!" _Natsuki laughed._

"Well, regardless it was super fun to do."

"Well, lets dig in!"

_Quietly, we both grabbed one._

_As expected, Natsuki knew what she was doing._

"With enough practice, you can make stuff like this too. Just no doing what you did this time."

_Well, this was a very nice experience. Plus, it seems like Natsuki is happy again._

"Well anyway, It was really nice doing this, but I need to get home before it gets-"

_Natsuki's expression changed as she looked out the door, which I suddenly realized was pitch black._

"Dark."

_Crap, I completely lost track of time._

_Now Natsuki might have to walk home in the dark, which is_

_Huh?_

"U-Um Natsuki, are you…"

_She stared straight ahead, shivering._

_That's when I noticed._

_Her eyes… They reminded me of something. It's a face I've only seen on one person before._

_That look of pure terror was a signature of Basil._

"No… No… not again. Please…"

_Natsuki seemed to be begging to something._

_As I watched in horror, a black mass manifested, grabbing her and pulling her out of the room, up the stairs._

_Getting a terrified feeling, I calmed down and quickly rushed up the stairs. Soon, I found her in the extra room._

_"No… I can't… If I come home I'll… He'll…"_

_Natsuki turned around, the Mass behind her glaring menacingly._

"Sunny! No! You can't hear about this! Get away! Get away from me!"

_Natsuki's eyes were glazed over with pure fear._

_"Please leave… Please…"_

_(_ **_Something Battle- Natsuki_ ** _)_

_*Something asks you to leave her be_

_You calm down. You are no longer afraid._

_"Please Sunny! I can't! I can't do this! Go away!"_

_*Something pleads for forgiveness_

_You focus. You get closer._

_"I can't take this anymore! I can't! I-"_

_*Something hits you with a book. -23_

_You focus. You get closer._

_"He's going to! I'm! I can't! Please!"_

_*Something hits you again. -35_

_You focus. You get closer._

_"Please just leave me! Please just stop! Stop it stop it stop it stop it!"_

_*Something pleads for forgiveness._

_You persist. You are ready._

_"Please… Forgive me…"_

_*Something pleads for forgiveness._

_You hug Natsuki._

_…_

_as you sit there, Natsuki continues to cry, begging and pleading._

_But you stay strong, because you know she needs this._

_Natsuki clearly has been thought hell in her home life, worse than you ever expected._

_She keeps crying, but hugs you back, still sobbing and pleading._

_…_

"Everything is going to be ok… this time, I know it's true."

"Don't be afraid, ok? I know this wasn't easy, but it's not as scary as it seems."

_Natsuki continues incoherently crying._

_…_

_One one hand, you are sad that this happened, that you messed up and upset Natsuki this much._

_But rationally, this mistake may be the thing that keeps Natsuki alive._

_With how she was earlier and this, I have no doubt she is at her breaking point, and as her friend, I don't want her getting hurt like that anymore._

_…_

_Natsuki has stopped crying._

_"I… I'm sorry Sunny, I-"_

_"It's ok, I understand."_

_"N-No! I can't put that kind of stuff on other people! I can't rely on others!"_

_"Yes you can. Speaking of which, I'm making an executive decision as your friend."_

"H-Huh?"

"You aren't going home tonight. Me and Sayori will help you go get some clothes in the morning and make sure nothing happens. And if I can, I'll try to do something to stop this."

"N-No! If you report this I'll go into foster care! I-I!"

"How old are you?"

"W-Why are you asking that?"

"It's for my next point."

"I'm 17. Why?"

"You know you can legally be emancipated at that age, right?"

"W-What are you-?"

"I can try and talk my mom into helping you fill out the papers, and then you can probably stay with one of us. I'm sure Sayori or Yuri's folks would understand, unless you wanted to stay here. Either way, you'd be safer and you'll have your friends behind you."

"I-I-" _Natsuki couldn't seem to make the words._

_Then, she Hugged me again. Like, extremely hard._

_"Thank you…" Natsuki started crying again._

_"Of course. We're friends, so just know you can say anything you need to. There's no more reasons to be afraid."_

_…_

_That night, I waited up with Natsuki until mom got home. I called her and thankfully it didn't take long._

_Although she was unsure at first, once she saw Natsuki and they went off so she could see what happened, She changed her tune and said she could stay with us any time she needed._

_It was abrupt to say the least, and it's clear it'll take a while to sort out this whole situation completely, but I'll do what I can to help._

_In a way, It seems like mom is happy about it too… I think deep down she still really misses Mari, so having Natsuki around even a little might help her some._

_It's funny how this works, isn't it?_

_Not even 2 weeks ago I was struggling on my last legs to give the truth to a lie I held for years, and now I'm doing stuff like this._

_I guess deep down, this is my way of trying to repent for what I did. And besides, I want all of my friends to be happy._

_Oh, also._

_I can't wait for Aubrey to message me so I can get her in contact with Natsuki, I think they'll become good friends._

_That's really going to be a nice highlight. I hope I'll get to talk to her soon._

_Anyway, I guess this is it for today._

_What a long day, and now school's back tomorrow…_

_Well, I guess it'll be nice being back in the club with everyone again._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_* 7_ ** _days left until the festival_ ** _*_


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned, this is the darkest chapter yet. If that makes you uncomfortable, this may not be the best story to read.
> 
> Contains various dark subjects present in both Omori and DDLC

_Omori was quietly sitting in Whitespace, or so he assumed. After all, it very much looked the same. He couldn't be sure however._

_Omori began to exit through the door, only to be met with a message._

_"Going somewhere? Why not take a rest?"_

_Omori sighed._

_Monika, this creature, has taken over headspace._

_It started with it taking the lightbulb, then the keys, and even his own teammates._

_Not even Mari seemed to be left, if what he assumed about yesterday was correct._

_Either way, Omori was agitated._

_Monika walked into his domain, made a mockery out of him and headspace, and had the gall to act like she was the one in charge now._

_Omori had enough._

_Normally, Omori liked to play by the rules, so as to not disturb Sunny's mind any further._

_However, If this thing thinks they are going to win, they are wrong._

_Omori quietly walked over to his computer._

_Taking his knife out, it began to glow red, seeping with energy._

_Omori stabbed the knife into the screen, turning it._

_Then, he took a step inside._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_As Omori traveled though Blackspace, things continued to spiral as his rage grew._

_Normally Omori was not one to feel emotion, however this was an attack on him._

_He will take pleasure in ending this all himself._

_Soon, Omori found the door he was seeking, the elevator room._

_Quietly, he pushed the button for 73/7h'÷38if8=f9_

_Confused, Omori looked back at all of the buttons._

_Oddly, all of their names were missing._

_Still, Omori waited silently for the elevator to arrive at its destination._

_...ding!_

_As he walked outside, Omori found himself in a strange place, nowhere near what he expected._

_Looking around, he was on an empty white plane, much like whitespace, except this one had a number of layers stacking their way up._

_As it would seem, this was much of the same structure he noticed the day prior before he was rudely stopped._

_Knowing his mission, Omori marched inside, but he strangely instead found himself outside in the snow._

_Blackspace again? He thought._

_This area was typically reserved for the final day before a reset, the final leg of the journey, where Basil would be found._

_Omori could care less. He was going to end this._

_Walking inside the church, he continued upward. Inside, where Basil would normally be, Sayori lay._

"Omori! Thank goodness! I've been stuck Here for so long!"

_Sayori smiled._

"I knew you'd come save me and the others! If you can get me untied we can- _GAH?!?"_

_Sayori paused as a knife stabbed into her chest._

"O-Omori? B-But... I thought… we... were…"

_Omori stabbed Sayori yet again. Then, cut down, he walked over her body and up the stairs._

_There, he found the silhouette he was looking for._

"I knew you were heartless, but that was just uncalled for. She didn't do anything to even provoke you!"

"She stood in the way of my mission."

"Mission? Who the hell cares about your mission Omori?"

_Monika looked upset._

"You're supposed to be Sunny's guardian, and yet you've done nothing but hurt him more!"

"No." _I quietly stated._

"I've carried out his will as he wanted. I exist because he wants me to protect him, and so I shall."

"How the hell do you even know what he wants? Last time I checked, he was happy!"

"Happiness doesn't last. But this doesn't matter. You aren't going to be here much longer, Monika."

_Monika sighed._

"I hoped that you would've just stayed in your room, or realized that Sunny doesn't need you anymore. But clearly that isn't the case."

_Monika looked up._

_"I expected this sadly."_

_Monika pulled out a pen._

"You know, I did this all for Sunny's sake. I want him to heal, to improve, but you are standing in the way of that Omori. I've already erased headspace so he has nowhere for you to hide him."

"All that remains is blackspace, and with the last passages back destroyed, we will both be in this room forever. Neither of us can leave, and there is nothing here."

"This is over Omori. You lost."

_You… you destroyed headspace?_

_You…_

_I smiled._

"You've made a fatal error Monika."

"And _what_ would that be."

_I felt the world darken._

"You've trapped yourself in Here with me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`~~~~`~~~§~`~~~

( **_Omori Vs Monika- Battle_ **)

_*Monika writes a poem. You feel depressed._

"I'm not going to let you hurt Sunny any more. He has suffered long enough!"

_*You Stab the enemy. It hits right in the heart! -345_

"He is suffering because of what he has done. He will never escape without me."

_*Monika Plays a familiar tune. It brings back bad memories! It hits right in the heart! -14 -7_

"He doesn't need to escape anymore! People know the truth now!"

_*You slash 3 times_

_-483_

"They know and they hate him for it. Once the others' tell their story, he will be as alone as always, and even more in misery."

_*Monika does a twirl! Monika became happy, Omori became happy! -5 -2_

"Some of them have already forgiven him, and the others are on their way I'm certain!"

_*You erase the enemy_. It hit right in the heart! -1267

"You are wrong. If he was forgiven, they would have done so. Believing in a false hope will only hurt him more."

_*Monika throws Omori a curveball! Omori became Angry! - 57_

"So what? Are you going to lock Sunny away again? Make him suffer so you can keep him safe? That's no way to live!"

_*Omori Erases the enemy. Monika's attack fell. Monika's defense fell. Monika's speed fell -984_

"It's better that he doesn't suffer. I am going to stop this once and for all."

_*Monika Attacks! -23_

_*Monika passed to 28j3jrit. She knocked it out of the park! -45_

_...Omori did not Succumb._

"You are making him suffer! Just stop already!"

_*Omori erased the enemy. Monika's stats all dropped! -1455_

"I will protect Sunny no matter what."

_*Monika cooked a cookie just for Monika! Monika recovered 7500!_

"I will not lose! I'm going to save Sunny!"

_*You erased the enemy. It hit right in the heart! All of Monika's stats dropped! -4789_

"I will do what must be done."

_*Monika and . come together and perform their ultimate attack!_

_-_ **_99999999_ **

_…_

_Omori did not succumb._

"N-No! You can't do this! Don't you understand, you're hurting him!"

_*Omori erased the enemy._

_-_ **_999999999999999999_ **

"You are finished."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Monika collapsed to the ground, an expression of Horror on her face._

_She pleaded quietly as she sat there._

"Omori please listen! You need to let Sunny go! He doesn't need to keep being protected!"

"I understand that I broke your world but-GAH!!?!!"

_…_

_Monika is finished._

_Kicking her head as it rolled down the stairs, Omori reached inside of the body's pocket. Inside, he found what he was looking for._

_Quietly, he began to climb the stairs upwards toward the sky. As he did, the hands, ever faithful, helped him return to his throne._

_Looking down, he frowned. Monika hadn't been lying. Headspace was gone forever, every last fragment lost._

_Omori had failed his mission, even if he won the battle._

_Turning, a string fell next to Omori. He knew why it was here, as he was the one who called it forward._

_Omori himself would never be able to fix Headspace. He could, however, make one final move to ensure Sunny was safe._

_Turning the lightbulb into its slot, Omori spoke quietly._

_"It's time Sunny."_

_"Don't worry, I will keep you safe. I am here for you as always."_

_"So sleep Sunny."_

_"Oyasumi. Sweet dreams."_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_…_

_Sunny awoke. It was morning. Monday specifically._

_Today he had promised he would take Natsuki along with Sayori to her house to get her things, getting her out of her abusive situation back home._

_That was what Sunny planned to do today._

_This was not Sunny however._

_Quiet as a mouse, Omori strolled into the kitchen. It was a bright and beautiful day outside. Omori didn't care._

_Quickly, he found the knives on the counter. He picked a large steak knife. This would do._

_Quietly again, Omori walked back into his room. Sitting on his bed, he looked at his surroundings one last time._

_Sunny still had yet to unpack his belongings, but he supposed it would make it easier to clean up later. Take that as a parting gift, he supposed._

_Omori could care less about how this would impact those around Sunny, as they weren't important. Sunny's safety was his only concern, and Omori knew this was the only way._

_Raising the knife, Omori_

_"Good morning Sunny! This was the best night of slee-_ **_WHWHWAAAA!!?!?!"_ **

_Omori needed to act. He swung the knife down, but the invader rushed forward, knocking him back and throwing the knife to the wall._

_Omori lunged for it, only for the girl to hold him down, despite her size._

_"SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE COME HELP HERE!"_

_The girl was yelling like a siren, louder than anyone Omori had ever heard. He kept struggling as the girl kept pulling back._

_Omori listed as the door opened and a pair of footsteps rushed in._

_"Natsuki? What's going- S-SUNNY? WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING?"_

_Before I could do anything, the second girl snatched the knife and threw it out the window, breaking it in the process. Taking my chance, I lunged for the glass shards._

_"SUNNY!?! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!?!" The second girl cried in distress, pulling Omori back with the help of the first._

_Quickly, they pulled him all the way to the top floor, locking the door._

_To Omori's dismay, the room was barren, save for a blanket and a large, far too heavy to move bookcase._

_As he sat there, quietly, the first girl began to paster him with questions._

"S-Sunny! What was all that? Y-You helped me yesterday and now you j-just want to die!?!"

_The other girl didn't look very good. She wasn't speaking either, just staring. Omori looked back with his cold eyes, silently._

"A-Answer me dammit! Why did you do that? Do you have _ANY idea how much that would've hurt everyone that cares about you?"_

_"Y-Your sister would be disappointed in you for doing such a horrible thing! You should be ashamed- a-and!-"_

"Natsuki, that's enough."

_The other girl simply stared, with a deadpan expression._

_She seemed to be showing no emotion whatsoever._

"N-Natsuki, I need to go do something. Watch Sunny for me, ok? I-I think I need a minute?"

_The girl left._

_With her leaving, Omori simply sat and stared at the first girl's expression. She was shaking, and tears seemed all down her face, but more than the anger she expressed, she looked absolutely worried._

_Continuing our staring match, I waited for something to happen._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_As Natsuki sat there, she felt a whole onslaught of confusing emotions. She felt Worried first and foremost, terrified of what Sunny was doing. She felt sad, knowing that she might have added her problems onto his and caused this, guilty even. She felt happy and relieved Sunny was caught before he could do anything rash, and she was absolutely furious that he would hurt her and the others like that._

_And… to think the night before, he had been so nice, trying to help Natsuki with her problems. He made her feel safe for the first time in ages. But now… now he's trying to leave._

_Is it me? She thought._

_Did I push him too far? Does he hate me that much that he'd try to die? Am I that despicable?_

_But then why did he try to help me? Why does he care more about me than his own well being? Why?_

_Natsuki couldn't understand._

_As she sat there, Sayori walked back in._

_Seeing her face, Sayori was worrying Natsuki almost as much as Sunny._

_Her face seemed… blank. She had no expression whatsoever. It was scary._

"I called for some reinforcements. They will be here soon. We just need to wait."

_Natsuki turned to Sayori._

"Hey… A-Are you ok?"

_Sayori's expression didn't change._

"I'll be fine. We need to worry about Sunny right now."

_Sayori walked over to him, staring straight into his eyes. As Natsuki watched, she could see two blank pairs of eyes staring back down at each other._

_Sayori spoke up in a toneless voice._

"You aren't Sunny, are you? You're something inside him."

_Sunny had no objection. He didn't move whatsoever._

"I had a feeling. You aren't acting like the Sunny we know after all. At least, you aren't acting like he's been lately."

_Sayori gave a sad smile._

"You're one of the monster's he's been fighting, aren't you?"

_Suddenly, Sayori looked enraged._

_"WELL? ANSWER ME, YOU ASSHOLE!"_

_Sayori seemed to be seething as she continued to yell._

_"YOU'RE WORTHLESS YOU HEAR ME MONSTER? SUNNY IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN YOU! YOU'D BETTER GET THE FUCK OUT OF HIS BODY BEFORE I TEAR YOU IUT MYSELF!"_

_"SUNNY PROMISED ME HE WOULD FIGHT YOU, AND I KNOW HE IS NOW, SO I'M NOT GOING TO STOP EITHER. NOW GET-_ **_OUT_ ** _!"_

_AS Natsuki watched in Shock, Sayori punched Sunny in the face! His face didn't even flinch._

_"I SAID GET OUT!"_

"S-Sayori, you're scaring me."

_"Natuski, go wait outside for when the others get here and tell them what happened."_

_"B-But-"_

_"Do it."_

_Natsuki quietly shuffled out of the room, leaving Sayori and Sunny alone._

_Sayori stared, a fire in her eyes._

_"ANSWER ME!"_

"He isn't worth your time, girl."

_"THE HELL DID YOU SAY?"_

"I said he isn't worth your time. You should just leave."

"And why would I ever listen to you, Asshole?"

"Because, it is your only choice."

_Sunny straightened himself, and began to speak._

"You may call me… Omori. And you are correct, I am Sunny, but also not."

"I was born to protect him from this cruel world and from himself, his mistakes."

"He is a worthless person with nothing left, and so I have decided to ensure his safety permanently."

_Sayori was furious._

"How… HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT SUNNY LIKE THAT!"

"I don't care what you think, this isn't your concern."

"I know well enough about you that you should know exactly what I am."

"And by extension, you know that I am not going away."

_Sayori was silent, a bit of sadness shining behind the fire in her eyes._

"You think you're unbeatable, don't you? You think that you're going to do exactly what you want here, no matter what."

"But you… are very wrong, Omori."

_"I sincerely doubt that. I am rather adept at persuasion."_

_Sayori suddenly stopped and started smiling._

"I hope you know that this means war Omori. You're hurting my friend, and I'm not keen on losing another."

"Declaring war on an autonomous guardian of the mind? How delusional."

"I'm going to bury you Omori. So deep that you'll never come back up and Sunny's thoughts again and to where you'll wish you *could* die. That is my promise."

_Omori sighed._

"Whatever. You people don't matter anyway. Sunny is my only concern."

"Sayori, I came as fast I could, what is… Sunny?" 

"Yuri, do you know anything about psychology?"

"Huh? Well I mean-"

"Just Awnser please, yes or no."

"Sayori? A-Are you-"

"Yes, or no."

"...yes, a little."

"Good. Sunny's "guardian." Or whatever he calls it took him over and tried to kill him. How do we get rid of this thing?"

"Huh? Is it a split personality?"

"No. I am simply a part of Sunny. He created me to-"

"Shut up, Omori. Yuri, what do we do?"

"Sayori, A-Are you-"

"No. I am not fine. I don't care, we are dealing with this first."

"I-I'm not sure what to do about this… what does it want?"

"It wants Sunny to die."

"W-Why? Didn't you-"

"Look, I'm not going to explain this again Yuri. This asshole took over Sunny and we need to do something to knock it out of his head."

"I-I don't think-"

"Do you really think I don't know that wont work Yuri? I'm running out of ideas and need to do something about this before I lose another friend."

_Everyone sat there for a moment quietly._

_Sayori meanwhile had started crying._

_"I'm not going to lose Sunny. I don't want to lose him."_

_Yuri gave Sayori a hug._

"We'll figure this out Sayori. Don't worry."

_Quietly, Yuri approached Sunny._

_"So… Sunny? Or Omori? Why do you want to die? Surely you know you can't go back, right?"_

_"That's why I must do this. If I don't he will feel more and more pain."_

_"Pain… You're afraid of pain? But i haven't seen much bad happen so far around you. Why would you be so afraid when you seem to be enjoying life?"_

_"Sunny knows the answer as do I. Good things are just as painful when you don't deserve them."_

_"But why do you feel you don't deserve it? Everyone deserves to be happy, no matter how you get it."_

_"He lost the right to be happy the day he killed his sister and hung her in the backyard."_

"W-What?" _Yuri didn't seem to know what to say._

"See? You are exactly why Sunny needs me. He needs protection from people like you, who know how terrible he truly is."

_"Sayori? Is he being honest right now?"_

"Yes, but Omori is twisting his words. It was an accident and he and his friend were scared. They were kids."

"You're words don't matter girl. You may have the patience for him, but the others do not. You have failed."

_Before Sayori could retort, something rushed into the room, quickly wrapping its arms around Sunny._

_It was a boy, with brown hair and an orange jersey. Behind him, several footsteps followed up the stairs._

_"Sunny! We came as fast as we could! But anyway, WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING!?!"_

Omori simply started back at Kel in response as the others walked in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sunny! Thank god you are ok! Sayori texted me and told me what happened so i got everyone together as fast as I could!"

_Basil seemed to be talking quickly, hugging both him and Kel._

_"B-But why? After you put all of the effort in trying to help me and telling us what happened, why would you try to hurt yourself like that?"_

_As Sunny sat there, he looked back at his old friends, namely Aubrey and Hero._

_While Kel and Basil had already rushed up, Hero seemed lost in thought while Aubrey looked furious._

_Aubrey quickly walked over to Sayori._

"What happened? Why did Sunny do this?"

_Sayori looked blank once again, controlling her emotions._

"That isn't Sunny. Omori tried to kill him to "protect him."

_Aubrey looked confused and even more angry._

"Who the hell is Omori?"

"I am. I see you are here Aubrey."

_Aubrey ran over to Sunny._

_"Sunny, what the hell were you thinking going and stabbing yourself? The fuck is wrong with you?"_

_Omori starred as she continued._

"What the hell made you do it? Did I not get over myself fast enough? Is that it? Well forget it, because I'm over that. Now i'm pissed because you tried to steal yourself away from us like Mari!"

_Aubrey looked at Hero._

"Hero, you're up. Tell him you're over it. We need to put an end to this mess."

_Hero was silent. Omori chuckled._

"Ah, Hero. I knew you'd prove my point."

_Aubrey slapped Omori in the face as hard as she could. Before she could do it a second time, Sayori Yanked her away._

_"Don't you fuckin dare say that about yourself."_

"Aubrey, can you please try to calm down with your language?"

"Language? Sunny almost died! Who the hell cares about that right now?"

"And Hero, what on earth is Taking you so long?!?"

_Aubrey walked up to Hero._

_"Get over your pride for 5 seconds and say something!"_

_…_

_Silence rang out for a moment. Kel and Basil actually looked down at this._

_Yuri tried to speak up._

"U-Um, Hero was it? I-"

"Sunny, I'm sorry."

"Huh?" _Yuri quieted down as Hero spoke up, clearing his throat._

_Quietly walking with a straight face, Hero began to speak._

"Sunny, I'm sorry I didn't see what you've been going through sooner. I should've seen the signs and tried to help, but I let my feelings get the best of me."

_Hero looked down._

"I've been selfish, letting myself be miserable all over again just because one fact changed. I should've talked to you sooner, but I couldn't get myself to speak because I'm weak. Mari would be disappointed in me."

_Hero began to cry._

"So i'm sorry Sunny. I am a terrible friend for holding an accident against you. I'm Sorry for everything."

_Crying, Hero wrapped his hands around Sunny. Silently, everyone seemed to join in, a giant pile with Sunny at the center._

_"We're here for you Sunny, we always will be. I'm sorry this had to happen."_

_"Yeah! Even if you moved we are still here for you!"_

_"And us new friends of yours aren't going to let you down either."_

_"We'll be here for you always. That will never change."_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_As Omori sat there, He was silent. He couldn't understand this in the slightest, why they would forgive Sunny._

_He felt nothing, and yet he could feel something changing._

_As Omori watched, Sunny began to cry._

_In a way, Omori felt like crying too._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Standing outside of the room, Sayori had a completely blank expression._

_She was unsure what to do, she didn't know if there was anything she even could do, and it hurt._

_It hurt to see her friend in pain, hating himself in his own mind. It hurt to know that he was struggling so much to keep that all down._

_It hurt just as much Knowing her own problems were just as insurmountable. They wouldn't go away either._

_Sayori felt as though she failed. She failed to keep her friend safe, and now she was worried one day she might lose them forever too._

_She couldn't help anyone. She never would be able to help anyone._

"Um, you are Sayori right?"

_A small boy with blond hair walked up._

_He fiddled with his hands a little._

"I um, I talked with the other 3 girls here and they said that you were her. I just wanted to thank you for calling me."

_Basil gave a sad smile._

"Sunny and I had a lot of problems to sort through over the past 4 years since Mari died. It honestly devastated all of us, but holding in the truth of what really happened that day… it changed both of us in ways i don't think we can ever completely heal."

_Basil looked around, trying to find the right words._

"I-I know this is a lot to ask, but since we are so far away, I want you to keep an eye on him for us. He seems like he's been a lot happier lately but, knowing how I was, his mind hasn't accepted everything yet."

"Sunny is probably still fighting something inside him. I am too, but it's gotten easier. And with time, I think for him it will too."

_Basil gave his best smile._

'So please watch over him, ok? For all of us."

Sayori simply stared.

_"Why?"_

"H-Huh?"

_"Why me? I've already failed to protect him."_

_Basil looked unsure of what to say._

"You didn't fail him, you saved him."

_"B-But that thing! It didn't go away! It only did once you guys showed up!"_

"W-Wait… You saw it? Something… a-Actually never mind."

"Sayori, if it hadn't been for you helping keep Sunny safe, we wouldn't have had the time to come help to begin with."

"B-But- I-"

_Sayori was crying._

"You need to understand, some things you can't do on your own. It took Kel to save asunny the first time, and it took Sunny to Save me for example."

"You should never put all of the burden of someone else onto yourself. You need to learn to have help from others. Friends exist for a reason."

_Basil patted Sayori on the shoulder._

_"Oh! Also speaking of which, I picked out your flower! I know it's probably not the best time, but I guess this is the only chance I'll be able to try this."_

_Basil ran outside to the car and grabbed a rather large flower thing._

_"It might be a little hard to take care of, so I'll let you choose if you want me to watch over it, but this is a chrysanthemum, the flower I picked out to fit you."_

_A rather large flower sat there. Sayori looked at it._

_"I picked out a White one specifically, which is supposed to Symbolize Loyalty and love. To me, it feels a lot like the energy you give off, since you seem to care a whole lot about others!"_

_Basil smiled._

"Anyway, if you want to keep it just let me know before we leave and I'll give you tips on how to take care of it. I just thought it might help you feel a little better, since I can imagine you're as worried about Sunny as we are."

_Basil just kinda sat there. Sayori, meanwhile, started twitching a little._

"U-um Sayori? Are you ok?"

_Quickly, Sayori ran over and Hugged basil, the flower caught between them, thankfully not crushed. She immediately began crying._

"I just want Sunny to be ok! I can't lose someone else again I just can't I- Please I just can't do this anymore!"

_Silently, Basil did his best to comfort Sayori._

"Don't worry Sayori. Everything… is going to be ok."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Back in the room, Kel seemed to still be hugging Sunny like a fly to a light, not budging and inch as he simply sat there. Omori was confused meanwhile, seemingly lost in everything._

_Omori could not understand why, but his grip still remained, and yet he felt… Different._

_He felt like something within Sunny fundamentally shifted. Something changed, and he himself as a result changed with it._

_He couldn't understand in the slightest._

_Why did he feel something now? Why did something happen after all this time? Why was he forgiven?_

_Omori couldn't answer the questions racing through his mind._

_He couldn't understand._

_As such, he simply sat there and stopped thinking._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

"So, Hero was it? Are you doing ok?" _Yuri asked quietly, as he sat in the corner a bit._

_He turned._ "Oh! Sorry, I was a bit lost i thought… I'll be fine, don't worry."

_Yuri felt concerned._

"I know you have known Sunny much longer than me or the others, but I hope you understand we are all concerned too…"

_Hero spaced out._ "Ah, sorry that wasn't it, trust me I'm fine. Just… dealing with some issues is all."

"Please, I can listen if it'll help. I don't want anyone else being hurt tonight."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course?"

"Have you ever… Wanted to hurt someone?"

_Yuri thought about it._

"Well, everyone has dark thoughts about-"

"No. I mean, have you ever actually thought about it? Seriously considered it?"

_Yuri went a little silent._

_In all honesty, she had done such things many times. He had a dark hobby that satiated strong feelings she had._

"W-Well… i-"

"I didn't think so."

_Hero quietly sat there._

_"You know the story right? About what happened with Sunny?"_

_"With his sister?"_

_Hero nodded._

_"Mari was… well she was a friend to all of us. She cared deeply about everyone, and watched over everyone. She loved all of us."_

_"In my case though, it was a little different. She was my girlfriend, the person I wanted to Marry someday."_

_Hero went silent._

_"For many years, I blamed myself for it. I thought it was my fault for not seeing the writing on the wall. I gave up on everything, and shut myself off."_

_"My brother Kel knocked some sense into me one day, and I started to do things again, but I never fully healed. I still haven't. My heart hurts as we speak."_

_"But… When Sunny told me what happened. I felt such… unbridled rage."_

_"I… I felt like pushing him out the window. Giving him a taste of his own medicine. It was so bad I had to leave."_

_Yuri looked concerned._

_Hero laughed sadly._

_"It's messed up, isn't it?_

_"The pain was so bad I took up some… unsightly hobbies for the last week. It's the reason I'm wearing long sleeves."_

_Yuri knew what he meant, but decided to let him finish._

"And then today came. My brother rushes up to me and tells me to get the car, because Sunny tried to kill himself. And what is my first thought?"

_Hero laughed._

_"That's great."_

_In response to this Hero started Sobbing. Yuri tried to pat him on the shoulder._

_"Why am I such a monster? Why can't I just be the adult for once? Why can't I just do the right thing?"_

_Yuri considered her words carefully._

_"You aren't a monster Hero. You're hurt. I think all of your friends still are if what happened earlier speaks enough."_

_"You're still blaming yourself for everything, just in a different way now. Now your mind is blaming you for not stopping Sunny, which is why you are upset at him. It's ok to be upset."_

_"But it was an accident!" Hero cried._

"I know he didn't do anything wrong, so why is it so hard to just get over it?"

_Yuri sighed._

"Some feelings just can't get pushed down. I know that from experience. Also…"

_Yuri very discreetly lifted her sleeve._

_"I have the same problem as you. It's not good, but I understand it."_

_Hero seemed conflicted._

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"H-Huh? Well It just kinda calms me down… I get anxiety and… other problems… Sometimes…"

_Yuri softly laughed. "My feelings... Overwhelm me sometimes. It helps me forget."_

_Hero looked down._

"I wasn't meaning to call you out. It's just not a good habit."

"Well, then why are you doing it?"

"Well that's… um…"

_Hero gave up on trying to fight it._

_Both sat there for a moment before Yuri spoke up again._

_"Do you talk to people about this stuff?"_

_Heri shook his head._

_"Of course not. I'm supposed to be the mature one. What would they think of me becoming like this?"_

_Yuri stayed silent._

"I'm going to give you my number. Whenever you have an urge to do… That…. Message me. I'll try to do the same, that way we can both try to break at least one bad habit."

_Hero looked up._

"Well, alright. I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I haven't had any real friends to talk to for a while, honestly."

"F-Friend?"

"Well yeah? Isn't that the right word?"

_Yuri looked down and nodded her head._

_I hope he can help me before it gets any worse. I don't know how long i have left, she thought._

"I'm glad to be friends with you then, Hero."

"Oh uh… by the way…" _Hero looked a little awkward._

"Yes?"

"...What is your name?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The day had come to an end very quickly, night quickly approaching as everyone talked._

"Man… To think we missed a whole day of school…" _Kel commented._

"You'll catch back up soon enough, nerd."

"Aubrey? What the heck was that comment for?"

"I dunno. Just reminded me of old times a bit."

_Kel turned to Yuri._

"So, you're gonna watch over Sunny tonight, right?"

"Well, Until his mom is home. I want to make sure she knows the situation since we couldn't find Sunny's phone."

_Natsuki quietly walked up, looking at the car._

"U-Um, sorry to ask this, but I kinda need to r-run back home and get some stuff before I come back. Would you guys mind driving me d-down the street a little?"

"I don't mind." _Hero commented, though Kel had to ask._

"Why are you going home and coming back? Wouldn't it be easier for you just to come by Tomorrow?"

_Natsuki's eyes lit up with fear._

_Before she could talk however, Aubrey got a weird look._

"Hey… You want me to come with you?"

_Natsuki looked up, a bit surprised._

"W-Well if you want to…"

_Aubrey's eyes seemed to look at something, before they lit up like a wildfire._

"Not a problem. I'd love to meet whatever wonderful parents you have."

_Basil, the last person in the house, shuffled up past Natsuki._

_"-Um, Natsuki your shirt is a little-"_

_Natsuki panicked as she realized part of her skin was showing, covered in dark bruises._

_Aubrey meanwhile carried a wide smile._

"I'm gonna have a good night tonight."

_With that, everyone shuffled into the car as it got packed up and ready to go. Hero rolled down the window to Yuri._

"Make sure to take care of Sunny for us, alright?"

_Yuri nodded, as the car drove off down the way._

_As it did, Yuri couldn't help but Sigh._

_"Sunny, I hope you are alright… everyone is worried to death about you."_

_"Please get better soon."_

_As she walked back inside, a familiar face watched from her window across the street._

_"I'm sorry Sunny, I let myself get overwhelmed. But I promise, Tomorrow I'll be back and there for you. I'll make everything ok again."_

_Sayori stared out her window._

_"It's still… A promise._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*_ **_6 days left before the festival._ ** _*_


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last warning fir dark content in these later chapters. Just wanna be sure you folks know.

_ Today I spent time with my friends. Everything was ok. _

_ Today I spent time with my friends. _

_ Everything was ok. _

_ Today I spent time with my friends. _

_ Everything was ok. _

_ Everything was ok. _

_ Everything… _

_ Is going to be ok. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Sunny awoke. It was morning, and the light was too bright. It stung his eyes. _

_ He quietly stood up. He wasn't in his room. _

_ This was the spare room, where Natsuki was staying. _

_ As he assumed, Natsuki was gone, likely downstairs. He wouldn't have expected them to want to stay in the same room after what took place. _

_ Sunny walked out of the door. _

_ All of the lights were still on from the night before, likely forgotten due to the events that took place. _

_ Outside the door, he found Natsuki fast asleep against the wall. _

_ Quietly, Sunny approached the stairs. _

_ To go back to his room, Sunny would need to go down. He despised the idea. But, he can't remain here forever. _

_ Carefully, Sunny took his first step. _

_ Then another. And another. _

_ Sunny kept walking, fighting the urge to let fear take over him. _

_ Then, in a horrible turn of events, he tripped.  _

_ Falling the last few steps with a thud and twisting his back awkwardly, Sunny couldn't help but feel like the world was making its mission to punish him today. _

"Huh? What was- Sunny? Are you ok?"

_ Natsuki seemed to have heard the noise and sprung awake. _

_ Quickly, she rushed down and helped him up. _

"Jeese, watch where you are going. It'd be horrible for you to fall and die right after all of your friends talked you out of that mess last night."

_ Natsuki looked at my face. _

"You… You are over that, right?"

_ I remained silent. _

_ Although Omori wasn't dominating my actions still, I could still feel his presence looming. He seemed oddly peaceful this time around, or rather he seemed quieter than normal. _

_ Sunny was certain that if Omori chose, at any moment he could spring back awake and end Sunny. Even now, he could still feel Omori trying to shape his actions to an extent. _

_ Sunny knew Omori wanted to protect him however, so Sunny simply allowed it. He had no energy left to fight it with for now. _

"..."  _ Natsuki looked conflicted as we walked through the kitchen. I quietly walked to my room and simply laid on my bed. _

_ This is what I'd always do back home. It was comfortable. Safe.  _

"Sunny, you should get ready for school, it's going to start soon."

_ Natsuki turned around.  _ "I'll be back. Don't do anything stupid." 

_ As Natsuki walked away, Sunny simply sat there, quietly staring at the ceiling. _

_ He felt close to nothing at the moment, as though something had split apart his heart, spirit, and mind. _

_ The only feeling he had was nothing at all. A bittersweet tranquility, the one that for so long dominated him. _

_ … _

_ Sunny didn't know why he didn't expect this to happen. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to change so fast. And yet he tried to force himself. _

_ He hadn't even really admitted that up until now. _

_ I mean really, Sunny expected that within a week he'd go from Silent and miserable talking and happy without any mental repercussions? He was setting himself up to fail, and he wanted to cry. _

_ But he couldn't, as he still felt nothing. _

_ Natsuki returned. _

"Um, aren't you gonna change? You wore that outfit all of yesterday."

_ I sat there. _

"Sunny, you can't just sit here and waste away. Not after all of those people came all the way out here to help you."

_ I continued staring. _

_ Suddenly, however, Natsuki began dragging me by my leg. _

"Fine, if you won't go yourself, I'll drag you there!"

_ Refusing to budge, I sat there as Natsuki dragged me all the way through the kitchen and out the door. _

_ I sighed. Guess I have to do this. _

_ Dropping me on the driveway, I finally stood up. _

"Awake now? Let's get this day over with…"

_ "Sunny!" _

_ As I watched, Sayori quickly ran over, giving me an extremely tight hug while Natsuki awkwardly watched. _

_ As I noticed, Sayori seemed in a good mood on the surface, although clearly it was an act. Sunny had seen Sayori be actually happy before after all. _

_ "I'm glad to see you are doing ok, i was a bit worried you might not come out today." _

"He didn't. I had to drag him out of his house, and he wouldn't even move a muscle…"

"Wow! You're actually super strong Natsuki! I never realized."

_ Sayori quickly changed the topic. _

_ As Sunny noticed, Sayori always had a way with directing conversations. _

_ Sunny could tell however that this time she was doing her best to avoid anything that would push her over the edge she was teetering on. _

_ It was clear that Sayori was very worried about him. How sad she has to waste such a good heart on someone worthless as me. _

_ "So Sunny, are you ready for school? I know I am, haha!" _

_ I remained silent. _

"Don't worry Sunny, I'll make sure today is a nice day for you, I promise!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ The day dragged by, with Sayori doing everything in her power to try to make me smile.  _

_ It was appreciated, but unfortunately this isn't something so easy to mend.  _

_ More than anything, I couldn't help but worry about her own well-being. _

_ At the end of the day, Sayori is the innocent one here, the victim. I'm the one who caused my own problem, whereas hers was tossed onto her by others. _

_ Part of me feels responsible for what she must be feeling. After all, I'm the one who crashed myself. That's why I'm suffering right now. _

_ And so, despite how melancholic I felt, emotionless, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad underneath it all, for hurting my friend and breaking the promise I made. _

_ Making my way to 7th period, I silently sat down with Yuri. _

_ Already I could see something was off with her by her strange expression. Did I cause this too? Am I that much of a burden to others? _

"Hello Sunny! I'm very glad to see you today."

_ Huh? I was almost certain Yuri was upset by the look on her face just a moment ago. _

"So, since you were feeling a bit down yesterday, I wondered if you wanted to keep reading some and take a breather for today?"

_ Yuri was smiling. And yet something felt off about it. _

_ Sunny couldn't place his finger on it. _

_ He continued to remain silent, though Yuri oddly didn't mind. _

_ Taking his lack of an answer as a yes, Yuri opened her book and began to read. Sunny meanwhile stared, not really taking in anything he saw. _

_ To Sunny right now, it was like a blank page. He got no meaning from it and therefore he saw nothing. _

_ Strangely, not even Yuri turned the page. She seemed preoccupied in her own mind as well, smiling and staring down. _

_ They both simply sat there as class went on. That was when Sunny noticed that the normal class was gone. _

_ Had he gone to the wrong room? But then why was Yuri here? _

_ Soon the questions subsided as Sunny's mind continued to force itself to go blank. _

_ His mind didn't want to think. _

"This was nice Sunny. I hope we can spend some more time reading in the club together."

_ Yuri seemed oddly clingy. _

_ Sunny prepared to walk off, before she spoke up. "WAIT!" _

_ I stood and listened. _

_ "D-Did i just? Sorry, I just wanted to ask if you wanted me to walk you to the club today?" _

_ Normally within a few minutes, Sayori would arrive. As if reading my mind, Yuri spoke up. _

_ "Sayori is a little busy today, so I don't mind. Why don't we go on ahead?" _

_ Before I could refuse to respond, Yuri grabbed my hand and began walking.  _

_ As we did, she had a very wide smile, uncharacteristic of her so far. _

_ Added to that, she seemed more… Confident today?  _

_ Sunny could feel that something had changed. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Soon, Sunny and Yuri arrived at the club, with Natsuki waiting inside. _

_ As we walked in, Natsuki seemed to stand up and look at us, confused. Then she sat down. She looked worried. _

_ Continuing to pull me, Yuri moved to the back of the room, pulling back out her book and laying it out on the desk. _

_ "I'm going to make some tea if you don't mind. Be right back!" _

_ Yuri wandered into the closet, to which Natsuki quietly walked over. _

"Where's Sayori? I could've sworn you guys always come in together."

_ I stared. Oddly, she seemed to still get whatever she wanted out of that. _

"I can see you don't know either. That's worry some…"

_ Suddenly Yuri strolled back out, still smiling. Then her face noticed Natsuki. _

"Yes Natsuki? What do you need?"

_ Natsuki looked nervous. _

"Well, I was just wondering where Sayori was, I mean-"

"Why do you care? She doesn't add much to the club anyway."  _ Yuri coldly stated. _

_ Clearly Natsuki was taken aback. _

"What? Don't you realize how horrible that is to say after everything that happened yesterday?"

_ Yuri gave an expression I could only describe as terrifying. _

"Why don't you go look for coins under the vending machine instead of wasting my time?"

_ Natsuki looked very hurt by this. Quickly, she rushed out of the room, leaving behind just me and her. _

"Finally, some peace and quiet."

_ Yuri smiled. _

"Sorry if that was a little mean, my emotions have been running a bit high lately, and I think i've been pushing them down too much."

"You make me feel better Though. I feel like you are a lot like me actually. Isn't it nice to have friends you can relate to so much?"

_ She looked down. _

"Don't worry, I don't need an answer. I can understand you just fine."

_ The clubroom door opened, and in walked Monika. _

_ "Sorry I'm late everyone! I-" _

_ Monika frowned. _

"Only you two? What on earth happened yesterday? Everyone was gone and I was stuck here by myself…"

"Didn't you like being alone, Monika?"  _ Yuri commented blunty. _

_ She seemed taken aback. _

"W-Well I mean, I like having free time as much as anyone, but I-"

"Why don't you go waste your time somewhere else, where people actually care about more than your looks and status? Maybe then someone will actually take the time to love you."

_ Monika stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, but with a straight face. _

_ However, before my eyes, I watched as her face drained the facade cracked wide open. _

_ Before anything more could be said, Monika rushed out of the room, tears rolling down her face like a waterfall. _

"Good. Now we can be alone. I'm Happy Sunny."

_ Yuri gave a peaceful smile. _

_ "You know, around you I feel like I can be myself. I don't have to keep being afraid. I'm always afraid around other people after all." _

_ "Oh! By the way, I wrote a poem for you last night! I've been dying to give it to you!" _

_ "Hurry and read it! The anticipation is making my heart race!" _

_ I picked up the poem. _

_ The paper was dyed with red splotches I could only assume to be blood.  _

_ Already I could feel Omori stirring. _

_ The words were unreadable. _

_ Putting the paper down, I found Yuri sitting over the desk in front of me.behind her loomed a menacing form of black, with a curled red smile and an intensely staring eye. _

_ Yuri jumped back. _

"W-What's wrong Sunny? You look so scared? What did you see?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe Sunny!"

_ The form began to shift wildly. _

_ "I have a confession to make actually Sunny…" _

_ "I… Am madly in love with you. Everything about you makes me so happy, ahahaha!" _

_ "I've been hiding this for so long that it began to hurt, but you made me realize yesterday that I was wrong." _

_ "I shouldn't keep these emotions in, I should try to be like you." _

_ Something stared down, filling the room. I finally felt something, but it was simply fear in this case. _

"What's wrong Sunny? Why do you keep staring at me like this?"

"I'm doing this for you, I'm going to keep you safe and sound forever!"

"I'll bring you to my home, where you don't have to worry about the others hurting you ever again."

_ The room went dead silent. _

"So what do you say?  _ Do you accept my confession?" _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Sayori was having a rather bad day so far today. _

_ She had promised herself she would make Sunny smile again and bring things back to how they were the week before. She wanted her friend to be Happy, so she could be happy again too. _

_ So she put on a big smile and cheery attitude for him. She did everything she could think of; talking about his hobbies, playing games, she asked her teacher to visit him at lunch and even bought him snacks, among other things. _

_ But, it never worked. His face remained as black as the day she first saw him at school. It was as if he had completely forgotten her friendship with him. _

_ Underneath the surface. She was suffering. She wanted to be gone, she wanted to stop causing pain for others.  _

_ She felt like she had caused this deep down, and that's why now she was so miserable  _

_ Still, she didn't allow it to show. She couldn't, for his sake. _

_ Sayori kept pushing, because she had to. Sunny needed her to keep pushing. _

_ Then, she found the note. _

_ It was in rather rough handwriting that she couldn't recognize, but the note gave a clear message. _

[ **Sunny doesn't need you anymore. He will be happier without you** .]

_ This message hurt Sayori in every way possible. She felt like she could scream and cry all at once, because in her heart she believed it was right. _

_ She had been holding onto Sunny like an object she was afraid to lose, and was hurting him in the process. _

_ She should just go home and do what she planned from the start. _

_ Crying, Sayori began to walk slowly out of the school and down the road, alone like she deserved. _

_ As she walked, Sayori couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her. She didn't care, as she kept sobbing. _

_ That's when something tapped her on the shoulder. _

_ She turned around, only to be surprised. _

"S-Sunny? What a-are you doing here?"

_ The figure looked Sayori in the eyes. _

"Really? You can't tell the difference even after all this time Sayori?"

_ Sayori's heart dropped. _

_ Then, she ran forward and gave her old friend a deep hug, as he smiled and hugged back. _

"It's been a while. I really missed you Sayori."

"Why?" 

"Huh?"  _ MC seemed rather shocked. _

_ "W-WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME FOR SO LONG!?! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I MISSED YOU?" _

_ MC frowned. _

_ Then he looked to the side. _

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't. Trust me, I've wanted to see you for a long time now. I've been trying."

"It's not something I can explain very well if I'm honest, it's never not new to me. But, I've always still been thinking about you. We're still best friends after all."

_ Sayori kept sobbing as MC patted her. _

"I'll be honest, I don't know how long I have to speak right now. And I've never been the best for speeches, talking was always your thing."

"But I can't let you make the mistake you are about to. Because if you do, then you'll never get the chance to be happy."

"B-BUT WHY? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO LEAVE AGAIN? WHY DOES EVERYTHING HURT? WHY DO I HURT EVERYONE? I-"  _ Sayori was yelling as she cried. Mc simply patted her on the shoulder. _

"It isn't my choice anymore I'm afraid. And I regret the choices I made back then that lead up to this. I never was one for having the most sense."

"Still, you aren't hurting anyone but yourself Sayori. You are the light of a lot of people's lives, like Sunny for example. Do you know how worried sick about you he was earlier?"

"B-But he-"

"His pain isn't because of you, you aren't responsible for it. You've done the best you could and should be proud you helped at all."

"Some people take a long time to get better. Sunny is one of them. So don't think you hurt him, or Especially me."

_ Sayori kept crying, Unsure what to even say. _

"Sayori, can you make me a promise real quick? Just as a parting gift to an old friend?"

"Please don't go-!"

"Sayori. Please take care of yourself, ok? I really want you to be happy. Keep being yourself and helping everyone."

"You've got a good heart, and i'm sorry that I hurt you like that."

"Can you forgive me?"

_ Sayori sobbed, hugging Mc even tighter. _

_ "O-Of course I forgive you! Please-!" _

_ "Good. Now you have to forgive yourself too, alright?" _

_ Mc whipped away Sayori's tears and looked her in the eyes. _

_ "Just know that when you are with your friends, I'm with you too. Watch over them, especially that new one. He'll make a good friend." _

_ MC walked past Sayori. _

"Take care for me."

_ "M-Mickey! I-I-!" _

_ But before she could turn around, he was already gone. _

_ Sayori fell to the ground, alone again. _

_ In the middle of the pavement, Sayori screamed. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ "Do you accept my confession?" _

_ Sunny could feel the fear setting in as he backed away from Yuri. _

_ Suddenly, there it was, blocking the doorway. _

"Sunny dear, why are you trying to leave? Aren't you happy we can share this moment together?"

_ Yuri's expression showed complete insanity. _

_ Sunny was going to have to fight his way out of here, like it or not. _

_ Sunny stood his ground. _

"Ahahahaha! I'm so happy I could die! This is the most wonderful feeling i've ever had in my entire life!"

_ Yuri lunged for Sunny. _

_ "Let's be happy together!" _

( **Something Battle: Yuri** )

_ *Something pretends nothing is wrong. _

_ "What's wrong Sunny? Aren't you happy to be my Lover?" _

_ *Sunny Calms down. Sunny is no longer afraid. _

_ *Something screams but nobody hears them. _

_ "Sunny, don't you want to be happy again?" _

_ *Sunny Persists _

_ *Something lashes out at Sunny! -489! Sunny is now afraid! _

_ "Don't worry Sunny! We'll be together like family! Nobody will get in between us!" _

_ *Sunny Calms down. Sunny gained 40 HP. Sunny is no longer afraid. _

*Something cries tears of joy

_ "LET ME HELP YOU! Won't you let me?" _

_ *Sunny Persists.  _

_ *Something Slashes at Sunny! -5926! _

_ "Just give up and let me love you Sunny!" _

_ *Sunny Perists. _

_ *Something slashes wildly! -143! _

_ "Won't you give up for me?" _

_ *Sunny Persists. _

_ *Something- _

"Hey, Sunny can I- What is going on in here?"

_ Sunny watched in Horror as Sayori walked into the room. Seeing Yuri, her face went from one of horror to absolute fury. _

"You. What did you do?"

Yuri smiled.

"I started to believe in myself. I told Sunny how I truly felt and now I'm free!"

_ Yuri laughed. Sayori marched forward. _

"Yuri, if you don't stand down right now, I'm not liable for what might happen here. Today I'm at my wits end."

_ Yuri laughed.  _

"What are you going to do Sayori? Cry about how you are a burden to others?"

_ Sayori scowled. She walked up to me. _

"Lets go. She needs to calm down."

_ We began to walk out the door as Yuri called out. _

"Where are you going, my love? Don't you want to spend eternity together?"

"He doesn't love you you fucking weirdo! Leave and never show your face around here again!"

_ Hearing that, Yuri began to laugh. She laughed softly at first, but it grew louder and louder as it progressed. _

_ Something inside me awoke and sprinted toward Yuri. I didn't even have time to see as Sayori shouted. _

_ "Sunny! She's got a knife!" _

_ She raised it, prepared to stab it directly into her stomach, but before I could I tackled her to the floor. Desperately clinging to the knife, she flailed as I tried to hold her down, Sayori grabbing a chair. _

_ I kept trying to find it. Then I felt something hit my thigh _

_ "Ahahahahahahahahaha!!!!" Yuri laughed maniacally. _

_ Suddenly, however it seemed her senses kicked in _

_ "W-What have I-!?" Before she could finish, Sayori broke a chair over Yuri's head, knocking her out cold. _

_ Panting, she quickly noticed the handle sticking out. _

_ "N-NONONONONONONONONO!!!" _

_ Quietly, I turned my leg over. Feeling very little pain, I pulled it out. _

_ Looking, thankfully it left barely a cut. Turns out Yuri stabbed right through my phone and wallet. _

_ "I'm fine." i commented, suddenly able to speak again. _

"W-What on earth got into her?!? S-She tried to kill you!"

_ I had no idea. It seemed so out of the blue that this happened, and I really couldn't understand it. _

_ Quietly I looked to Sayori. _

"We need to take her home. Check and make sure she doesn't have any more of these on her."

_ Sayori reluctantly nodded and began searching Yuri as I looked away. _

_ Suddenly, Sayori called out. _

_ "Uh oh… I think I figured out what happened…" _

_ Sayori pulled out a card. Written on the back was a note. _

_ [If the patient is highly unstable, please contact us. She is supposed to take medicine daily, and missing it can lead to extreme side effects.] _

  
  


"Yuri… I had no clue you had issues like that of your own…"

"I-I found something else concerning too, but It's not something I think she would want others to know, and it isn't a danger. I think we need to go to her house and call this number."

_ I nodded and we began walking, yuri between us. _

_ The classroom looked like a tornado had hid, but there wasn't nearly enough time to do anything about all of it. As such it was mostly left to the janitors.  _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Carrying Yuri out of the school, I followed Sayori as she led the way to her house. _

_ As she did, she began to talk. _

"So, Sunny, I wanted to kinda express something."

_ Sayori paused. _

"I've had problems for a very long time, though I didn't quite explain what I meant."

"To put it into words, it's a lot like your problem, except a bit more mundane. Instead of Omori or whatever you called it, I have rain clouds that come over me sometimes."

"It's like the weather. Some days are better than others. But lately you helped me quite a bit."

"Know it or not, just by being willing to let me talk to you, you made me very happy. The rain clouds faded quite a bit. But, I won't lie that it scares me."

_ Sayori laughed. _

"Ever since I lost MC, I felt like I was worthless, that I would never be happy again. So being happy after being sad for so long came with a bit of whiplash."

"It terrifies me, the idea of being sad all over again."

_ Sayori paused. _

"Today, I got a note. It basically told me what I thought was true, that I was just a burden. I almost went home and, well…"

"But something came to me as i was going home. A lightbulb shined in my head, and told me that I was being crazy. MC wouldn't have wanted me to be like that, and neither would you and the others."

"So…"

_ Sayori Smiled, Genuinely for the first time all day. _

"Please, no matter what you are going through. No matter how much control Omori gets. No matter how much pain you feel from what you did… Please keep going with me. Because I can't do this on my own."

"I've tried to hold everyone's happiness on my back all my life. But I can't do it alone. If I do, I'll lose everything. So, although we already made a promise before, I genuinely am making a pact here."

_ Sayori stuck out her hand. _

"If you don't give up, I won't. If you will, I can't promise you that. Deal?"

_ Silently, I shook Sayori's hand. _

_ It was a bit hard to do due to Yuri's unconscious body in the way. Regardless, this time I meant it fully. _

"Thank you. I know it's hard, and i've been saying that for a while, but that was just me fighting to keep you so i wasn't alone."

_ "As sad as it is to admit, I couldn't promise myself something like that before. I didn't think I deserved it." _

"But now, i'm serious. I just want to make sure we can both do our best."

"And that I think is all I need to be Happy."

_ … _

_ Sayori looked up into the sky, Smiling. _

_ I hope this will make you happy MC. _

_ I'll never forget you. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ At Yuri's house, me and Sayori dialed the number and a doctor arrived at the house. _

_ As was apparent, Yuri hadn't taken her medicine in 2 days, likely due to the events the day prior. Combined with the emotions she must have felt, it was a recipe for disaster. _

_ Thankfully, it would see she'll be ok. She didn't get badly despite being knocked out with a chair. (for which Sayori apologized) _

_ As well as this, the doctor who showed up told us what to do in case it ever happened again. _

_ It's sad to think someone like Yuri has to live with such a misfortune. It explained to me the reason as to why she seemed so distant at the start. _

_ Having someone to talk to was probably euphoria for her, and with the events of yesterday she was most definitely reeling in pain at the thought of losing one of her friends. _

_ The confession part i'm unsure of, but i think she simply said that to try and keep me from running. She was scared. _

_ Tomorrow I'll need to comfort her after everything that happened, if she remembers all of it. Yuri likely isn't going to take it well, and I'm worried she might run away in response and actually get hurt. _

_ Regardless, I need to focus and be there for my friends. _

_ I don't have time to wallow alone in my room like I used to. I need to help Sayori and the others. Friendship goes 2 ways. _

_ I can feel Omori watching, but oddly he seems to have changed a little. He seems weaker in a way, but still there. _

_ Either way, I need to stay strong and do my best. _

_ I'll do this with everyone together.  _

_ This time, I'm being honest. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Alone in her room, a girl stares at an empty white void, playing a song. _

_ This space is called Blank Canvas, her home for as long as she could remember. _

_ She spent many days here, silently living out a life that never happened, where she was happy. _

_ She could be anywhere she wanted, but she simply chose to be here for now as it was peaceful and quiet for focus. _

_ This girl's name was Steinway. _

_ She was happy here in Blank Canvas, safe and sound too. She had everything she could imagine and more, and yet nothing at all. _

_ All of her friends could come and go as they pleased, bringing with them great days, laughs, and memories. _

_ For now however, She was busy. _

_ Steinway was smiling and working at a piano. She was creating a song for the love of her life. _

_ She had been composing it for many Years, but finally it was almost perfect. It was the song she always dreamed of. _

_ "A few more days." She thought quietly, working away diligently." _

_ "This time I'll get it right." _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ * _ **_5 days left before the festival_ ** _ * _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys, just a quick question. Any ideas for tags so more people who would enjoy this can find it? Ideas would be appreciated, i just don't know how to categorize stuff.


	10. Chapter 10

_ Steinway awoke to the sound of ringing.  _

_ It wasn't the typical kind you'd hear in the back of your head if you had a headache though, or the kind you'd hear from a bell. _

_ Specifically, it sounded as though a phone was going off somewhere. _

_ Sighing, irritated by the grating noise, Steinway picked it up. _

_ The call was from Sunshine, a longtime friend of hers, or you could say more than that. _

_ You see, Steinway always had a crush on Sunshine. He was a very selfless soul, always looking out for her and her friends. Everything he did brought her joy. That's why she called him that, after all, Sunshine isn't exactly a common name. _

_ Despite all of this, she never told him, for the time was never right. She wanted the moment to be perfect, and so she always waited. _

_ Having lost focus, Steinway listened to what was being said over the phone. _

"So, how have you been doing? Has school been treating you well?"

_ Steinway nodded. Thankfully, the phone could hear everything that could be seen. _

"Good to hear, I always get worried you'll burn yourself out."

"Seriously, you need to take a day off once in a while."

_ Steinway smiled. She knew Sunshine was just looking out for her. _

"Anyway, just checking in since it's been a while since you came and saw everybody. We all miss ya and have you in our thoughts, alright?"

_ Steinway nodded. She was happy to hear this from her friend, as she always had a fear of being forgotten. _

"Anyway, just know that you're doing great. Keep up the good work over there, and we'll keep up the good work over here."

_ Steinway could hear as Sunshine flashed a thumbs up. _

"We're always here for ya! Stay safe."

_ The phone hung up. _

_ Steinway was happy. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ It was a new day, and Sunny was feeling a slight bit better. _

_ Granted, he wasn't perfect, but he was better. _

_ Sunny was trying his best to stay positive though, after all he wanted to improve, both for himself and his friends. This time, with help, he hoped he would be able to avoid having another episode if he went too far against his impulses to hide and run. _

_ He could feel Omori stir at the thought of it, as if to say "don't do anything stupid." _

_ Still, Sunny wasn't focusing on that. He was getting dressed and had made some breakfast. There was a good while to go, and he made extra, so he decided to wake Natsuki and go get Sayori, since he expected both would enjoy it. _

_ He knocked on Natsuki's door, to which a quiet set of footsteps came up and a face popped out. _

"Sunny? Is something wrong?"

_ "i made breakfast." _

_ "Oh! Alright. I'll come down in a moment."  _

_ The door closed, so Sunny walked downstairs and prepared to cross the street. _

_... _

_ Hmm, it's strange how one day something can terrify you, but the next you can do it just fine. _

_ Regardless, Sunny focused on going to wake up Sayori. _

_ Knocking on the door, he wished that his phone hadn't been a casualty of the previous day. After all, it'd make things far simpler. He hoped that Kel and the others hadn't been messaging him. _

_ Thinking on that, Sunny realized 2 things. _

_ 1.He is going to need to find Yuri and help her today. _

_ 2.How on earth did Sayori get his friends to show up? _

_...Maybe she found out my phone number from Basil, she would've seen his on that day. _

_...Now I wish I could get ahold of Basil… _

_ Standing there, Sunny realized that Sayori still hadn't answered. _

_ He tried knocking again, louder. _

_ Weirdly, the door came open. _

_... _

_...No. I'm not doing that. _

_ Not gonna happen. No. _

_ … _

_ For the love of god Sayori please don't make me do this. The food is getting cold and I know you'd want some. _

_ … _

_ Sighing, Sunny decided that for the sake of breakfast, he would go knock on Sayori's bedroom door. Surely she can't sleep through that. _

_...god why does life with friends have to be so difficult? He wondered as he walked upstairs. _

_ Knowing Sayori, she probably has that one room with the window looking toward his place. As such, it wouldn't be too hard to find the right door. _

_ He walked up and knocked on the door. _

_ Clearing his throat, he spoke. _

_ "um sayori? i made breakfast for you and natsuki, i just wanted to see if you wanted to join us." _

_ "i uh, i didn't want to walk all the way in here but your house is kinda big and you left the door unlocked…" _

_ Still no answer. Weird. _

_ "sayori? are you doing ok?" _

_ It's quiet. Now Sunny is feeling nervous. _

_ I should go back… _

_ But…  _

_...What if something happened? _

_ … _

_ Nervous, Sunny swallowed his pride and decided to take a risk. _

_ Sunny gently opened the door. _

_ * _ **_creak_ ** _ *- _

_ "Sunny? I didn't expect to see you here!" _

_ Sunny face planted into the doorway. Sayori meanwhile walked up behind him, helping him up. _

_ "So um… Why are you looking in my room?" _

_ Sunny decided to just be honest. _

_ "I made breakfast but you didn't answer. The door was unlocked and I freaked out a little since I didn't hear you after knocking on your door." _

_ "Huh? You made breakfast?" Sayori very quickly latched onto that specific fact. _

_ "Yeah, we got eggs, toast and bacon. I'm not the best cook but hopefully it's better than nothing." _

_ Sayori smiled. "Thanks for inviting me. I'll be over in a minute, I just gotta get dressed for school." _

_ "By the way, where did you go so early?" _

_ "Eh? Oh, I just went shopping. I'm trying to start working on better habits so i figured it'd be a reason to wake up on time." _

_ That's a nice thing to hear. _

_ Content, Sunny exited the house and went home. _

_ Sayori meanwhile just laughed a little, being reminded of stuff that happened a long time ago. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ After having breakfast, the trio of Sun, Sunny and Sunnier began their walk to school. As they did, they thought about what kind of things the day might hold. _

_ All things considered, things felt more positive than normal, somewhat like last week, but different.  _

_ This time, the positivity wasn't held back by black clouds. _

_ Sunny could feel it, the dark energy that had pulled back from both Natsuki and Sayori. It felt as though they had been cured of something.  _

_ For Sunny however, a big question loomed overhead.  _

_ What is going to happen with Yuri? _

_ …The day before, she lost it. She attacked everyone and pushed away all of her friends. And although he was certain Sayori and Natsuki would understand and forgive her, Sunny wasn't sure if Yuri would forgive herself. _

_ That more than anything was what scared Sunny. _

_ "hey sayori?" _

_ "Huh? What's up Sunny?" _

_ "...do you think yuri will be ok?" _

_ Sayori seemed to think for a minute. Then she patted Sunny on the shoulder. _

_ "She'll be fine, don't worry. We'll go talk to her at the club about what happened and explain that we understand and won't hold it against her. I'm sure with both of us we can make her feel better." _

_ Sunny Smiled. Sayori did have a point. Hopefully with both of them, they'd be able to make sure she was fine. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ The day went by quickly. Sayori seemed to be trying to focus a little more in class, but kept me company nonetheless. At lunch he talked with Natsuki as normal, and soon it was 6th and then 7th period. _

_ Now was the time Sunny was anxious about most. _

_ Walking in the door, Sunny noticed that Yuri wasn't there. _

_ That's a problem, he thought to himself. _

_ Walking up to the teacher, they seemed to have no idea where she was either. As it appeared, Yuri didn't come to school today. _

_ Sunny was worried, but he didn't know what to do. He decided to wait and ask Sayori once the club meeting started. _

_ Once the period ended, they met up and walked there. Sunny decided to ask what to do as they walked. _

_ "Me? Why are you asking me?" _

_ "Well, you seem to understand more on how to cheer people up. i want yuri to feel comfortable around us again." _

_ Sayori beamed a little at that, but did her best to hide it. _

_ "Well, If I'm honest Sunny, I think Yuri might need another day to think. But if we don't see her tomorrow, we'll go check up on her." _

_ I thought about it, and she's probably right. If we tried to go see her today she might just seal us off before we can talk. _

_ I just hope she is alright. She's my friend too after all, even with what happened. _

_ Walking into the club, Monika greeted us with a smiling face. _

_ "Hey guys! Good to see both of you are back and doing alright." _

_ Sayori smiled. _

"Sorry for missing a bunch of club meetings, it's been a very active week…"

"I'd bet! I mean on monday everyone was gone, and yesterday er i um.-"

_ Monika seemed to fumble her words at the end. _

_ "A-Anyway, it's good to see everyone is back and safe." _

_ Monika looked out at everyone.  _

"Lets gather around, since I have something rather important to discuss"

_ Everyone huddled in a circle. _

"Now, I know everyone's probably on edge from yesterday, and though it looks like everything worked out i can understand if some of you guys are a little agitated by this…"

"But we are on Wednesday, and we still haven't even close to figured out what we are going to do for the festival."

_ Monika did have a point. Honestly I had completely forgotten the festival was even a thing to begin with. _

"Anyway, right now i'm making an executive decision to promote Sayori to VP, as I feel having your help might get this done far more effectively…"

"Eh? Really? But why me?"

"Lets face it, you are probably the only person out of all of us that can get everyone inspired to work. Plus you already seemed to have some ideas from what it sounded like last week."

_ Sayori jumped. _

"Right! I completely forgot!"

_ Sayori quickly rushed over to the closet, digging out the craftwork supplies she found. _

_ Setting them on a table, she started talking. _

"So the festival is supposed to be a time to grow the club right? I was thinking that a good idea would be to try and make posters out of some of the poem's we've written in the past, you know, like to illustrate them and show people how cool literature can be."

_ Sayori laughed a little. _

"I know we aren't all artists here, but I think it could be fun for trying to get people's attention for whatever main event we set up."

_ Sunny could feel his artistic vision manifesting already. He was going to become art. _

"Honestly that sounds like a pretty cool idea Sayori. Nobody objects?" 

_ I shook my head, as did Natsuki. _

"Alright, so posters are set. Now we just need to figure out what our event will be."

_ Natsuki spoke up. _

"I'll make sure to make cupcakes for the festival, lots of em to go with the event."

"But um, what will the event be?"

"Maybe a show?" I suggested.

"Well, it isn't a bad idea, but I'm pretty sure the drama department will out class us if we try to do a play or anything too similar."  _ Monika noted regretfully. _

_ "Well, what about story readings?" Sayori suggested. _

_ "That has some merit if we do it right. October is coming up so scary stories might be a good part." _

_ "Perhaps we can each perform a short story we pick out that suits us?" I suggested back. _

"If we do that, we just have to make sure the stories we pick aren't too boring for the audience. We also might need to work on Ambiance."  _ Monika noted. _

"Well, that sounds like a plan at least!"  _ Monika said happily. _

"Wow, that actually went pretty fast."  _ Natsuki commented. _

"Well, that's because Sayori is better at holding meetings. Sometimes I wonder why I'm even the president here."

"You still lead very well Monika. Honestly the Literature club wouldn't be the Literature club without you leading us."

_ Monika looked a little unsure of what to say. _

_ "I… I'm flattered really." _

_ Quickly, Monika rushed out of the room. _

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I think you just made her cry a little. She's probably just fixing her makeup."

"Does Monika wear Make-up?"

"Well duh! Nobody just looks like that…"

_ As Natsuki and Sayori quietly chatted, I looked at the door. _

_ Monika is a really interesting character. She went from scaring me a bit to someone I want to understand more at some point. _

_ Hopefully she's doing alright, regardless. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Pretty soon after, Monika returned and we all began to make our plans for the rest of the week regarding the festival. _

_ "So Monika, if Yuri doesn't come to school tomorrow me and Sunny are going to go check on her. Since we might not be here, it might be best to do a home assignment of sorts. Friday I know we should all be here, and then that leaves Saturday and Sunday." _

_ "That's fine Sayori, I know Yuri needs some help right now after all." _

_ "So, what exactly are our tasks?" Natsuki asked. _

"Well, we all are going to each make a poster and pick out a story to read. Friday will likely be the best day to practice them."

"For the weekend, I'll be doing pamphlets for the Stories so people can read along, and I'll likely be working on some other small decorations."

"Natsuki, I think you are the best cook here by far, and you already planned to make cupcakes earlier, so i think that's enough work for you."

"Sayori and Sunny then can work on the Ambiance for each of the stories we pick out, and then split up to go help one of us each. They could probably do that Saturday and then help each of us Sunday."

"What about Yuri?"  _ Sayori asked. _

_ Monika frowned. _

"Hmm, I'm not sure actually. It seems like 4 people would probably be able to get everything done."

_ Sayori smiled.  _ "Well, she can help Sunny and me on Saturday, then she can pick who she wants to help Sunday."

"Sounds like a plan. So that means all of our festival planning is settled."

_ Monika seemed a little relieved. _

"I was honestly worried at this rate everyone would forget and we wouldn't have anything to show. After all, we probably want to attract at least a handful more members, right?"

_ Natsuki pouted. _

"Well, why do we need more exactly? Isn't it more personal with just the 5 we have now?"

_ Monika seemed unsure what to say. Sayori stepped in to cover for her. _

"Well, either way the festival will be a nice day to have fun together as a club. I think it'll be worth it to make something nice, whether or not we get any new friends out of it."

_ Monika seemed to smile at the awnser. _

"You know, I'm really happy you're back, Sayori. It's been a long time since you were positive like this."

_ Sayori smiled back. _

"I'm gonna try to keep it this way, so don't worry!"

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ For a short while, the meeting dismissed and I went off to talk to Sayori. _

_ Honestly something about this meeting made me feel a lot better than I had earlier. Perhaps it's the positive energy going between everyone, or maybe it's just a good day. Either way, I feel a lot better. _

_ "Ok Everyone! It's time to exchange poems!" _

_ As I walked up, it dawned on me I hadn't written a poem for days. Looking at Sayori, it seemed pretty clear she was in the same boat. _

_ "U-Um Monika? I kinda forgot to write a poem for today…" Sayori admitted. _

"same here…" I noted.

_ "Hah! Both of you guys really need to get better memories, `` Natsuki chuckled. _

"Well, if we only have 2 to share, maybe we should just read them out loud to everyone."

"E-Eh?"  _ Natsuki wasn't chucking anymore. _

"Well I mean, we *are* going to have to get used to that for when we've picked out what stories we'll be reading."

_ Natsuki's memory suddenly seemed to kick back in. _

"A-Actually are you guys sure that-"

"Natsuki, if you were scared of doing it why didn't you veto it?"

"I-I don't know!?! I-I!"  _ Natsuki was sputtering. _

"Y-You know what? Fine, I'll do it."

_ Natsuki cleared her throat and began to read her poem called "Because You." _

_ … _

_ "S-So? What do you guys think?" _

_ Sayori clapped first, as did I and Monika. It was surprisingly well performed for what she made me expect, although I could see why she was nervous. _

_ The poem was pretty clearly about being thankful to have others around. She must be glad to have her friends here and be out of that situation back home. _

_ Actually, thinking about that, it's been a surprisingly smooth process. I'm lucky Mom's a prosecutor and has people in the business to work with. _

_ "Good work Natsuki, that was a very lovely poem." _

_ "Now I guess I need to do mine. Hopefully It'll come out ok." _

  
  
  


* **Keys** *

There once was a girl who lived alone in her home in the middle of nowhere.

She had no friends, no life, no soul, and yet she was still happy.

She was oblivious to such things, enraptured by the keys of her piano.

She played beautiful music for all to hear. Many adored the music, but nobody knew her face.

Playing for days and hours, she always tried to perfect her tune, but as more and more people listened, the tunes became not enough.

People wanted songs played, their own songs, things the girl couldn't possibly understand.

Still yet, they couldn't see her. All they saw was the piano and the music it played.

One day, the girl made a friend, and they knew not of her music. They only knew her face. 

Happy with this, she ran away.

She was free of the burden.

The piano, meanwhile, played itself.

  
  
  


_ "So, thoughts?" _

"This one is probably the most understandable one I've ever seen you make Monika."  _ Natsuki commented. _

"It's about all of the pressure of keeping up an image, right?"

"Yes, exactly!" _ Monika said happily. _

"It's so much pressure when you take up responsibilities, and nobody ever remembers you for it."

"Sure, they know your name, but nobody ever knows anything about you besides your accomplishments."

"To me, it's a terrible feeling, because in a way it makes me feel as though I don't have almost any friends."

"Well we're here for you!"  _ Sayori chimed in. Monika nodding. _

"I know, but when you are told for so long that you're supposed to be popular, and yet nobody knows who you are, it's sad."

"Well, for what it's worth you've seemed like a nice person to know so far."

_ Let's leave the sketchy behavior aside for now. _

"Well thank you, I honestly appreciate that. Though it's something I guess I'll have to work through."

"After all, every character needs character growth!"  _ Monika laughed. _

_... _

_ With that, everyone got their stuff together and began to head home as the club day came to an end. _

_ It had been a good meeting, and everyone seemed to be excited for the festival preparations going forward. _

_ Soon I found myself walking home yet again, Sayori by my side. _

_ As I walked, Sayori decided to ask a question. _

"What do you think of Monika, Sunny?"

"Well, she's pretty nice. I had a few scares with her at first, but I want to be her friend too regardless."

_ Sayori smiled. _

"If that's the case, I'll help Natsuki bake and You can help Monika on Sunday. After all, I think she could use some more friends."

"Alright! I'll look forward to it."

_ Pretty soon, the day finally wound down as I prepared to sleep. _

_ Today had been a good start for the promise he made, and he didn't feel like he'd done anything too risky. _

_ All things considered, Sunny was doing better than ever, and that was genuinely the case this time, even if he tried to force himself to open up more in the past through a bit of forced optimism. _

_ Still, Sunny couldn't help but be worried about Yuri as he fell asleep. _

_ "We'll see you tomorrow Yuri. Take care for us." _

_ Sunny Resting soundly, Omori awoke and watched the day come to a close. _

"Perhaps I was a bit quick to judge this situation. I will give it more time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Steinway awoke quietly in Blank Canvas, standing up on her ornate bed she made for herself every day she slept.  _

_ Blank Canvas had a good side of its malleability, in that she could make anything appear or disappear as she wanted. _

_ Today, as she decided to take a short break, she decided to Visit her friends. _

_ Summoning a door, she quietly entered the land of dreams and nightmares. _

_ LoDN, or the Land of Dreams and Nightmares was a place Steinway rarely went nowadays, more prominently staying in her bubble of Blank Canvas. It was an area she used to explore regularly up until about a year ago, when the nightmares started to outnumber the dreams. _

_ Unlike Blank Canvas, LoDN was a place where you had no control or expectation. It contained many rooms, all every shifting in a monochrome space, all tied to a number of doors with numbers. _

_ The many rooms would come and go with time. A few specific ones, however, always seemed to remain. _

_ Today, Steinway decided to visit her friend Sayori, who resided in Door #14. _

_ As always, Steinway stuck out her hand and motioned forward. Above her, the Keys of fate brought to motion the many doors until 14 arrived. Quietly, Steinway entered. _

_ Door 14 was a small room much resembling a classroom. It was a place Steinway felt comfortable, as schoop was always a focus of hers. _

_ Inside the room Stood Sayori, an old friend of hers, her Smile as glowing as always. _

_ "Steinway! It's been a long time since I've seen you!" Sayori came in for a hug, which certainly made Steinway feel better. _

_ "It's good to see you Sayori. Have you been doing well recently." _

_ "Oh you know me, i'm always doing good! _

_ Sunshine's doing good if you're wondering, though he kinda left a bit ago for somewhere." _

_ Sayori seemed to look around the room. _

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

_ Sayori held up an elegant picture of what appeared to be a rising sun over a vista and sea. _

"So I um, I picked up painting recently, and I wanted to know if I did any good for my first try."

"Sayori, I've seen that picture in the gallery in 247."

"E-Eh? How'd it get there?"

"More like how did it get here?"

_ Sayori looked nervous. _

"Ok fineeee, i just thought it looked super pretty and wanted to impress you, meanie."

_ Steinway laughed. _

"You're honestly a trip Sayori. I'm glad I came to visit you, it just gets really dull all alone in Blank Canvas…"

_ Sayori beamed. _

"Well I always try. You're a great friend after all."

"And yeah, i can understand it'd be pretty sad just sitting there all alone. Honestly I don't know why you don't come here more!"

_ The awnser was simple. _

_ Although she would never admit this, coming here came with a risk, as the doors would be in constant motion. _

_ If Steinway left, she would be subjected to any number of random doors before making it out, and the longer she stayed, the more likely the sequence would be longer. _

_ Added to this fact, the nightmares had become far more prevalent in the previous year, Steinway found herself fearing the trip home. _

_ Despite this, Steinway continued talking, enjoying the time she could with Sayori before she'd need to go. Steinway loved her friends dearly, so it broke her heart to have to part with them again. _

_ "Anyway, I'll let Sunshine know you stopped by, I'm sure he'd love to see you again." _

_ Sayori gave Steinway a big hug. _

_ "Be safe out there! And make sure to stop by again soon!" _

_ Steinway smiled as she closed the door, entering the next dream. _

_ The first wasn't so bad. It was just a bunch of cats running around in business uniforms with paperwork. _

_ The next was an old dream, namely a memory of going to a theme park once.  _

_ Then, came the first of the nightmares. _

_ Dark and damp, she found herself in a blackened house, roaming in the dark. _

_ She needed to find the exit as soon as possible. _

_ She checked door after door. _

_ Then finally, only one oddly remained. A bedroom. _

_ Steinway opened the door. Then she slammed it shut. _

_ Sitting on the other side was Sayori, hanging from the ceiling. _

_ Steinway calmed herself for a moment, before running through the room. _

_ Those rooms were the worst. Ones where she saw the people she cared about die in gruesome ways. _

_ There were many of them littered around. _

_ Soon, she passed through many doors, some dreams, some light nightmares. _

_ She had a feeling she was getting close. _

_ Then, she entered another house. _

_ This one looked oddly familiar  _

_ It was a very tall house with many rooms. This dream would take quite a while to go, as it felt like it went higher and higher, no exit in sight. _

_ Soon, she found herself on the top floor. Exhausted, she looked around. _

_ There was one final bedroom. Afraid of what might be In there, she closed her eyes. _

_ Opening the door, she found nothing, the room was empty. _

_ Quietly, she walked up to the door out. _

_ But, it didn't lead out at all. _

_ … _

_ Quietly, Steinway found herself atop a balcony, looking down what appeared to be hundreds of floors she just climbed. _

_ Feeling a sudden urge, Steinway stepped forward and jumped. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ * _ **_4 days left before the festival._ ** _ * _


	11. Chapter 11

_ … _

_ Steinway was surprised when she woke up to find no injury or anything wrong. _

_ She had taken a long fall, and couldn't really remember the circumstance. _

_ Either way, she looked around. _

_ The dream area was dark, and as it would seem there was no exit. As a matter of fact, Steinway couldn't even remember why she was in a dream again to begin with. _

_ Brushing off the dust, a bit of red paint had seemingly got onto her clothes. Groaning, she wiped it off, returning herself to her natural, black and white state. _

_ As she surveyed her surroundings, a bit of fear set in. _

_ Where was she? How did she get here? What did she do to deserve this? _

_ Steinway hadn't a clue. She began to shake, unsure of what to do. _

_ She wasn't the type for danger, she was just a workaholic. She didn't know how to deal with a situation like this, she was worthless here. To make matters worse, she was completely alone- _

"Steinway? Fancy to see you all the way out here."

_ She looked up, hearing a familiar voice. _

_ Then, a pair of hands covered her eyes. _

"Alright, I want you to give your best guess as to who is standing behind you."

_ Overjoyed, Steinway couldn't help but jump and Hug him. _

"Sunshine! It's been so long!"

_ He smiled. _

"Well I mean, you could always visit me silly. You *do* remember what door I stay at right?"

_ Of course she did, it was Door 13. She'd never forget something that important. _

_ Sunshine nodded. _

"Well, it's good to see you've at least been taking care of yourself. Sayori's been doing good too if you wondered, I always try to visit her and keep her company when you're busy."

_ Sunshine lightly chopped Steinway on the head. _

"Still, that's no excuse to keep hiding away up in Canvas. Don't you get bored or lonely?"

_ He laughed. _

"Hell, I mean I hate being alone. Without you and Sayori i dunno what I'd do with myself. Not like i've got much of a potential future playing games and reading manga…"  _ he snorted. _

_ Sunshine always was overly modest. He never gave himself enough credit for the work he did for others. _

_ Sunshine looked around. _

"Huh. Where are we anyway? Honestly I was kinda just roaming through the dreamscape, didn't expect to run into you all alone in a place like this."

_ He gave a smile, a wonderful one as always. _

"Well, don't worry either way. I'll lead the way out!"

_ Feeling comforted by her best friend's presence, Steinway calmed down and began her quest back home. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ As Sunny awoke, he quickly made his way to the mirror as was tradition. _

_ Normally when he would do this, he expected to see apparitions of his sister, or monsters that seemed to haunt him of his past. _

_ He didn't, however, Imagine he would see an apparition of Yuri, dead on the floor of his bathroom. _

_ Blinking and turning around, of course nothing was there. There never was. _

_ And yet, when he turned back to the mirror, the corpse had turned to face him. _

_...Suffice to say, Sunny left the bathroom in a bit of a Hurry.  _

_ On his way, he actually bumped into Natsuki, who fell to the ground. Sunny, who felt guilty, promptly threw himself onto the ground as well. _

"H-Hey! Watch where you're going for once, jeese…"

_ Natsuki stood back up, reluctantly helping Sunny up as well. _

_ As she did, she seemed to look Sunny in the face, as if reading his expression. _

"You know, even though you don't always talk and you have a good poker face, you can see a lot of how a person is feeling in their eyes."

_ Natsuki looked down. _

"You're worried about Yuri still, right? I know you wanted to check up on her yesterday and everything."

_ I nodded. _

"Well, just know that Yuri is strong. She might seem like she's easy to hurt with how shy she is, but I think if you talk to her she'll be ok. So don't get too worried, alright?"

_ Looking into Natsuki's own eyes, it was clear she was really worried too. If anything, it felt like that comment was to herself in a way. _

_ Regardless, Sunny and Natsuki quickly got dressed, and walking outside they met Sayori as usual. _

_ Still, the feeling of Worry seemed to silently loom in the back of everyone's minds. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ As the day passed, the worries didn't go away. _

_ By 7th period, Yuri still wasn't present, and so Sayori and I packed up our stuff and went on a trek to Yuri's house. _

_ As we walked, we could both feel the tension in the air. I think that's why Sayori decided to speak up. _

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. We just need to talk to Yuri and sort put some things. After that, i think we'll just need to do festival prep stuff."

_ Sayori hopped. _

_ "Speaking of, have you picked out what you want to read yet Sunny?" _

_ I decided yesterday to look into my options, so I pulled up an online bookstore and searched for short-story collections. _

_ Unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble picking out anything, as I couldn't really get a good idea of all of the stories out of a synopsis. As such, I decided on something a bit more… interesting…" _

_ I turned around and unironically said _

"I'm gonna read 'The Cat in the Hat.'"

"E-Eh!?"  _ Sayori seemed a bit confused. _

"Ummm… I uh…"

"...Wait, why does that actually make sense for you?!?"

_ Sayori's utter confusion made me laugh a lot internally, so I decided I might as well. _

_ I mean maybe someone will find my terrible reading funny enough to join. _

"If you do that, try finding a poorly translated copy. It'd probably be the funniest thing to happen at the festival."

_ Sayori mischievously commented. _

_ I nodded. I'm going to put the cat in the hat through google translate like 8 times later and see how bad it can get. I mean, with the fact I struggle to even speak, I need to contribute somehow. _

_ Sayori smiled a little. _

_ At least my stupid idea helped us get over the tension by a little. _

_ That is, until we arrived at Yuri's door. _

_ … _

"Is it just me, or is this a little more ominous than last time?"

_ I shook my head. The house gave a bit more of an intimidating vibe than before. _

_ Despite this, I knocked on the door, and waited. _

_ It took a minute, but the door cracked open a little, an eye looking back. _

_ Then, with an Eep, before me or Sayori could talk, Yuri slammed the door back shut. _

"Y-Yuri! Wait, we just want to talk!"

_ Silence. It seemed that Yuri was gone. _

_ Sayori began pounding on the door as hard as she could. _

"Don't worry, when MC used to oversleep this would always get him up."

_ "*ahem*" _

_ " _ **_*BANG BANG BANG* YURI!!!!_ ** _ " _

_ " _ **_*BANG BANG* YURI!! OPEN THE DOOR!!! *BANG BANG*_ ** _ " _

_ " _ **_*BANG BANBANBANG!* YURI PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR! *BABANG BANG BABANBANG*_ ** _ " _

_ The banging and yelling continued for a good 5 minutes, eliciting no response. _

_ *GASP heh *he* heh *he* heh… _

_ Sayori looked exhausted, but also sad. _

"Darn, I was sure that'd work. What do we do now?"

_ I was at a bit of a loss. _

_ It seems like Yuri really doesn't want to come out, and yet we probably need to do this, or Yuri might isolate for good. _

_ Sayori's eyes lit up as she got an idea. _

_ "Oh I know! I bet Yuri keeps a spare house key out here. A lot of people around here do that." _

_ Sayori quickly began to search under the doormat and a few tiny decor items sitting out front as I considered the morality of this. _

_ "Found it!" She happily cheered, quickly Unlocking the door. All that was left now was the doorstopper. _

"Good thing I learned how to Open MC's, otherwise this would've been a bust."

_ Without even a second wasted, Sayori had already unlocked the door. _

_ Looking at her, I couldn't help but feel slightly concerned that she seemed so skilled at getting into people's houses she hadn't been to before. _

_ Still, there's no time for that. _

_ Quickly, Sayori began walking in as I quietly followed. _

_ … _

_ As it was the last time, the house was ornately decorated and very much what i'd have expected of Yuri at this point. _

_ She, or at least her family, certainly had good taste, although Sunny oddly noticed that there weren't many signs of anyone else living here. _

_ Does that mean Yuri lives alone? That's rather sad to think about. _

_ Actually, does Sayori live alone too? I haven't seen her parents for myself. _

_ Maybe this town is just full of workaholics like mom… _

_ Regardless, I stopped idling and did my best to speed-walk up the stairs. _

_ Getting to the door to Yuri's room, Sayori tapped on it. _

"Yuri? Can we come in?"

_ We could hear a thud as something hit the floor. _

"H-How did you even get in here?"

"Sorry, I borrowed your house Key."

_ "B-But why? Are you both here to just make me suffer more than I have? Have I not suffered enough already for what I did? Do you hate me that much?" _

_ This response left us both unsure of what to say. _

_ "Well? Do you?" _

"Of course not Yuri! We were here to tell you we weren't upset!"

"...yeah!"  _ I added weakly, trying to contribute. _

_ Yuri seemed silent for a moment. _

"Why should I even believe that? I mean one of you I attacked and the other I stabbed! Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Well for Starters, you thankfully only stabbed Sunny's phone, though you should still apologize. Second, we were all going through a lot that night, so I'm not going to be mad."

_ "B-But what about the note I gave? The things I said to everyone? I was a monster! Nobody can just move past that!" _

"Oh, so you wrote that…'' Sayori _ commented, looking at the floor awkwardly. _

_ Sayori gave a straight face. _

"Look, I'll be honest when I say that not got to me, but that was again a result of what happened. None of us could have stopped everything from happening, not even Sunny."

_ Sayori smiled at the door. _

"We all had a lot going on in our heads, and you were probably afraid, I understand. I mean, I can even understand why you are afraid now. You think you've lost your chance at having friends."

"But you're wrong. Everyone at the club still cares about you, and if anything we know more of what you are going through. We want to help you."

"We want to help care for you Yuri. With enough dedication, anyone can bloom like a flower, and I think we can help you. So please don't lock yourself away from us."

_ Yuri remained silent. _

_ "I...I'm not sure what to do." _

_ "I feel like even if you forgive me, I don't deserve it. A friendship dies when you burn it like I did." _

_ "But we want to be around you Yuri! The club won't be the same without you…" Sayori frowned. _

"Yuri, we all just want you back."  _ I calmly said. _

_ "B-But I! I hurt you all in horrible ways! I almost killed you Sunny!" _

"Accidents happen even between people who mean the world to each other. What matters is where you go from there."  _ I started. _

_ "You have two choices ahead of you." _

_ "You can stay alone in that room and be safe, know that nobody will hate you here. But you will be alone and never be happy." _

_ "Or, you can take a risk and work toward being a better person worth forgiving, for yourself and others." _

_ "The choice will always be yours, but I really hope we'll see you tomorrow." _

_ After finishing my comments, we all sat there quietly for a moment. _

_... _

"You're… You're right."

"Thank you Sunny."

_ I gave a thumbs up, though that didn't exactly get seen through the door. _

_ Sayori beamed at me, clearly surprised by the little speech. _

_ For me though it was a bit easy. After all, I was simply repeating the stuff I told myself as I tried to confess to my friends back home. _

_ I know full well that a life alone in a room is miserable. _

"So, can we count on seeing you at the club tomorrow Yuri?" Sayori asked.

_ Quietly, Yuri responded. _

"I'll do my best. Just… try to tell everyone I'm sorry first, alright?"

"Of course!"

_ Soon after, Sayori and I departed, feeling happy that we helped in any way. _

_ It'll likely take a while for Yuri to get back to being totally comfortable again, but that's fine. As long as she takes her own pace and keeps working, I believe she can get better. _

_ I'll keep hoping for you Yuri. You'll feel better soon, just keep working.  _

_ And thank you for being my friend. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Arriving home, Sayori decided to join me as we both still had some assignments to take care of. _

_ After all, we needed to get started on oir Posters ASAP, as we likely only had today and the meeting tomorrow to get them finished in time to be hung up. _

_ For me, this seemed like a fun experiment to do, as I was always rather… unique, when it came to art. _

_ I remember Mari and Aubrey used to like it at least, although Kel told me at one point Aubrey was just trying to be Nice. Hero outright feared my work but did his best to hide it. _

_ Either way, I began to sketch out my first poem, "Blank Canvas." _

_ In reality, I knew it was just whitespace, although I supposed I could re-name the poem once the poster was done.  _

_ I mean, who the hell would name a figmented dreamworld "Blank Canvas?" Isn't that a bit on the nose? Whitespace is a far more creative name. _

_ Sayori meanwhile was sketching one of her own poems. It looked oddly detailed, something I supposed I should've expected from Sayori's perceptive nature. _

_ The poster seemed to show a Doll with a Bow, with the head cracked open like an egg, with man clouds around it flowing out. _

_ Although the rest was yet to be done, I thought it looked super nice. _

_ Sayori meanwhile looked at mine. _

"Eh? You drew yourself? I felt too self-conscious to go that far…"

_ I shook my head. _

"Actually, this is Omori."

_ Sayori paused. Then, she looked like she had just unraveled a great mystery. _

"Oh my god, I finally get the poem! I never even considered you meant that so literally!"

_ Sayori looked back at the paper. _

"So uh, it seems a little empty so far. With how you described it, wouldn't you think there would be lots of little things around?"

_ I looked at Sayori. _

"Well, the poem is based on my personal experiences back when I used to be closed off. I lived in my mind a lot, which was where Omori lived."

"...Whitespace was Omori's home, an area where he could cut off from everything and be at peace. If you left it, you would find Headspace, a world of dreams."

_ Sayori seemed to be thinking about this. _

"So I take it Whitespace was just really empty?"

"You could say that. It was designed by Omori to be as safe as possible, nothing but what he deemed essential."

"But why would Omori care about Safety and all that? Wasn't he the one trying to hurt you a few days ago?"

_ I frowned, but continued explaining. _

"Omori… he's an interesting creation of my mind. He was created by my mind to protect me back when my world seemed to end. He was there to keep me in a world where I could be happy and wouldn't suffer."

"In reality though, it was all fake, and I knew this. The dreamworld fell many times, and it always came to him to restore it, over and over again."

_ I looked up. _

"Back then I was fighting to hide the truth. Once I realized I was wrong, Omori tried to stop me. After all, he believed that by going back into the world, I would be hurt again."

_ Sayori looked at me with a serious expression. _

"I can understand in a way what you must've gone through, for a long time I closed off too."

"I used to have a lot of friends back when I was younger. After MC disappeared, only Monika really stuck around, and that was more because I think she didn't have many either."

"I closed off from everyone because I was in pain, but now I know that isn't right. You actually helped me quite a bit with that, along with the others. I think you're learning it too."

_ Sayori looked back down at her poster. _

"Either way, no matter what Omori does, you know that you're going to be happier out here now, so just keep trying. I'm sure even he will understand someday."

_ I smiled and kept working. _

_ Soon the drawing was finished. As I continued to work, I'd decided to add Headspace off in the background, as a subtle nod to everything. _

_ I was happy with the quality, even if my drawing seemed a bit rough and almost child-like compared to Sayori's. _

_ Looking back at it, it had a full set of rows and bottles, all with happy faces on them behind the doll, and each little detail was very expressive. _

"You could actually make a pretty great Artist Sayori."

"Eh? Well thank you! I'm glad I didn't mess it up."

_ Sayori grinned, happy to have made something great. _

_ Suddenly, someone rushed down the stairs. _

"Hey Sunny! I'm pretty proud of it so I wanted to- Huh?"

_ Natsuki stood before both of us with her own poster. _

"Hey Natsuki! We actually just finished working on ours too! Want to see?"

_ "Oh, I didn't know you guys were doing this or i'd have joined you guys…" _

_ Natsuki pouted a little for being left out. Then she remembered. _

"Oh, right! Try and beat this masterpiece!"

_ Looking at it, there was a wide variety of magazine clippets arranged into a collage picture. _

_ In the sky soared an eagle, monkeys in the trees, and a lot of other animals seemed to be doing a lot. Meanwhile in the center stood a rather cutely drawn anime girl, simply standing, overshadowed by the achievements of all of the animals around. _

_ "Oh my god I love it!" Sayori said happily. _

_ I gave a thumbs up too. Natsuki grinned a toothy smile. _

_ "Hah! Told you!" _

_ We decided it was for the best to let Natsuki keep her win and so didn't let her notice Sayori's poster on the table. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ |Yuri- Hey Hero, sorry for the message but I just wanted to ask something. _

_ |Hero- Does it have to do with the problem we discussed. _

_ |Yuri- Not really, though It's equally as Important in a way. _

_ |Yuri- You see, I kind of was overly emotional after what happened to Sunny, and it sent me on a bit of a spiral for a day. _

_ |Hero- Well that's normal, I mean almost losing someone like that is bound to be painful. _

_ |Yuri- The problem is due to how I was born, my emotions get very out of control, and I really hurt a lot of people. I said a lot of horrible things in a rage and almost hurt someone really badly.  _

_ |Yuri- I just don't know what to do. Everyone told me they are over it, but I feel like I've hurt everyone too much to go back. _

_ |Hero- Hmm. _

_ |Hero- You know, you kind of sound like my friend Aubrey. _

_ |Hero- Before Sunny left, I was in college, and long before that, All 6 of us had a friend group. _

_ |Hero- Aubrey used to be really nice, so when I came home I was shocked to find she had seemingly become a bully. Add to that, She pushed Basil into the lake when he couldn't swim and Sunny jumped in to rescue him, also Unable to swim. _

_ |Hero- If i hadn't been there, things might have gone ber badly, but I was. Aubrey as it turned out was just having a lot of problems at home. _

_ Hero- Despite everything, she was still our friend so we all forgave her almost right away. After all, friendship is hard to break. _

_ |Hero- I know that's ironic to hear coming from me after what I said on Monday, but I truly do believe that. Even with Sunny, although things might not be the same I still will always see him as my friend. _

_ |Yuri- Thank you; That story actually helped quite a bit. _

_ |Yuri- I just kind of lost it, I mean I almost Stabbed Sunny. _

_ |Hero- How on earth did that happen? _

_ |Yuri- It's a long story. Thankfully only his phone was lost. I might try to buy him a replacement. _

_ |Hero- Oh, good. No wonder he hasn't been answering Kel or Aubrey. _

_ |Hero- Also I think it's for the best I don't mention that to them, I'll just say he broke it. _

_ |Yuri- You can tell them, I don't mind. _

_ |Hero- I just don't want Aubrey picking a fight over an accident. She'd probably freak out even more than she has been the last few days… _

_ |Yuri- Well, thanks for the consideration and understanding regardless. _

_ |Hero- Of course. It's been nice talking anyway. _

_ |Yuri- Likewise. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ As Omori sat on his throne, he couldn't help but have a thought. _

_ Things have changed a lot, haven't they? _

_ All things considered, in just two weeks Sunny had not only left his home, but found a new set of friends, and seemingly helped heal a good majority of them. _

_ Although Omori didn't care about others, he could feel how Happy Sunny was now compared to before. _

_ If there was one thing Omori hated, it was fake happiness. That was much of why the entire week prior had been hell to dig through. _

_ As it would seem, Monika, whatever they were, soley formed for the purpose of changing Headspace to promote that feeling of shallow joy. _

_ It was there to make Sunny feel like he mattered through helping people around him. He was helping Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri with their own problems, so he could negate his own full well and be happy with himself. _

_ Now it was different. He could feel that, slowly, over that week actual bonds had indeed formed, while his old bonds had been reinforced. Sunny had gained a small bit of joy in himself, and healed a little. _

_ Although Omori still believed that the only true way to Save Sunny in the end was to end him, Omori wasn't needlessly cruel. He was a guardian, and although he would sacrifice happiness to negate sadness at a moments notice, he felt for now there was no need. _

_ Sunny seemed to be safe where he was, and he was slowly healing his heart. Omori wouldn't stop this unless needed.  _

_ Had Omori been like this before? He couldn't recall. He felt different overall. Still, that didn't matter as long as Omori stayed true to his mission. _

_ As such, Omori simply let Sunny be, awaiting the day when he would be needed again. _

_ He would always be here after all. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ |Unknown Number- Is this Kel? _

_ |Kel- No, this is Patrick. _

_ |Unknown Number- Did you just _

_ |Kel- lol _

_ |Kel- Yeah this is Kel. Who're you? _

_ |Unknown Number- I'm Sayori, just got your number from Sunny. _

_ |Kel- Oh, well it's nice to meet you. _

_ |Kel- How has he been by the way? I can't seem to reach him." _

_ |Sayori- He's doing a lot better, we were working on posters earlier. Wanna see? _

_ |Sayori- Oh, also his phone is kinda destroyed, so he wanted me to apologize for missing you guys. _

_ |Kel- Oh, well damn. Also sure, I'm curious if his Art got any better. _

_ |Sayori Sent an attachment| _

_ |Kel- Holy Cow it looks just Like when we were kids. _

_ |Kel- He used to have this notebook with all of these weird pictures that I could never understand. _

_ |Sayori- Oh really? He never told me. _

_ |Kel- My personal favorite had to be the cat butler, a lot lf the other ones were pretty spooky. _

_ |Kel- Hero was scared for weeks after he saw that one of the raining eyes or whatever it was. _

_ |Sayori- Goodness, he really does have an Active imagination. _

_ |Kel- No kidding. He used to space out a lot, though I guess that might not have changed. _

_ |Kel- He's kinda always stated similar. Just Quiet, friendly Sunny. He never talks much but he's a great listener. _

_ |Sayori- I know what you mean, I mean He's so quiet when he talks to us, and at first he wouldn't even talk barely at all. _

_ |Kel- Wait, you actually got Sunny to talk to you? _

_ |Sayori- Well yeah, he started getting better after a few days. _

_ |Kel- How. _

_ |Kel- How on earth did you do it?! He only spoke up for us right before he left! _

_ |Sayori- I don't know? I didn't know it wasn't normal for him. _

_ |Kel-...can I ask a bit of a personal question. _

_ |Sayori- Um, sure? _

_ |Kel- Are you like dating him or something? Like i can't possibly see him talking to someone like that other than maybe Mari back in the day. _

_ |Sayori- N-No? _

_ |Kel- Are you sure? I mean I support it 100% if you can get him to feel that comfortable. _

_ |Sayori- Can we please talk about something else… _

_ |Kel- Fine, just tell me when to get everyone together for the wedding or whatever. _

_ |Sayori had disconnected.| _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Quietly in her room, Monika plays a tune to herself on the piano, with the windows open, serenading the outside. _

_ The melody has been one close to her heart, a song she wrote herself many years ago. _

_ It has been a long time, but Monika decides to sing along.  _

_ She knows the words by heart. _

_ "Every day, I imagine a future where, I can be with you~" _

_ Carried by the wind, the song blends with the trees and sky, a bittersweet reminder of what might have been in another world. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ * _ **_3 days left until the festival_ ** _.* _


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya folks, just a heads up but i'm seeking some people to correct grammatical errors once the 15th chapter is finished. I'll let you guys know once I get there, i just figire it'll make the experience overall better as my fingers make it hell to fix stuff.

_...As Steinway and Sunshine continued to make their quest through the many dreams, Steinway couldn't help but smile. _

_ After all, it had been quite a while since she had any company, and it helped that Sunshine always made her feel her best. _

_...Sunshine had a bit of a way with people. He was rather oblivious to things like status, talking to just about anyone without ever worrying about repercussions.  _

_ Many times it would get him into trouble, but he always figured his way out. He was surprisingly resourceful, something he didn't like to admit. _

_ His nature actually was why she became friends to begin with, since it made it far easier for them to connect. _

_...She could remember that day rather vividly. _

_ … _

_ It was many years ago, and Steinway was at music practice.  _

_ She was always busy with many things, but it was expected of her that she would pick up and perfect craft after craft. That day just happened to be when she first picked up Piano. _

_ As she played, a random boy walked in. She was in the 7th grade at the time and so didn't know who he was. She kept focused on her music, doing her best to learn. _

_ She was trying to play a piece by Beethoven, but back then she was far less proficient. As such, she kept hitting the wrong notes and having to start over. It was getting very agitating. _

_ She knew nothing about Piano except the bits she researched before starting. Still, as always, she assumed she would just push through it.  _

_ She had been playing for many, many hours and it was quite a bit after school now, so her fingers had gone numb from pressing the same keys over and over again. _

_ In the middle of her continued, endless loop, a voice spoke up behind her. _

_ "Are you trying to learn to play Piano? You seem pretty good for someone I've never seen play before." _

_ As I turned around, It was the boy who'd walked in. He seemed to be smiling. _

"Well, i'm still not very good yet, not at all… But I guess I'll get there."

"You're still a million percent better than me at it for what it's worth."  _ He laughed.  _

"What's your name by the way?"

"Me? I'm [][][][][][]. You've probably heard lots of stories…"

"Stories? ...Sorry, but I don't think i've heard that name before..."

_...Really?  _

_ Nowadays that was a bit of a surprise. Most people I met would constantly be trying to pry into me to learn new skills or find info on stuff since I was active in a lot of clubs and projects.  _

_ In the worst cases, some people would just try to get close to me because I was one of the "cool" crowd, and once they noticed that being around me didn't make them "in.", they would leave. _

_ It was a sad life. I just wanted to be seen as normal and have friends. Is that too much to ask? Is it wrong to wish to be like everyone else? _

_ Part of me wished I didn't have so much pressure riding on me too… I still kept working regardless, as always. I felt I had to. _

_... _

"That's actually nice to hear… Most people seem to start off with impressions about me that make it hard to talk to…"  _ I commented. _

"Really? I mean you don't give off any bad energy exactly. Guess it's their loss."

_ We'd sat there for a moment as I continued to practice. He looked over. _

"Hey, you look like your hands are cramping a bit. Do you need some water or something?"

"Oh, I'm fine! I just really wanted to get this part right today, but it keeps slipping up a bit…"

_ The boy gave a bit of an expression of concern. _

"You know, working too hard can make it to where you hurt yourself and can't get anything done. You should pace yourself instead of forcing yourself to be perfect right away. I mean, you just started today, right?"

_ I paused. _

"Well… Normally people expect a lot out of me. They expect me to be able to do stuff like this no problem, even if it's hard at first."

"I've never really stopped before, so I guess i just expected to do better. Why would this be any different?"

_ The boy seemed to think on that for a moment. _

"Well, I can't say what having expectations on you is exactly like, but I'll say this."

_ The boy gave a thumbs up. _

"I don't expect you to be anything but whatever you want to be. After all, that's what everyone should strive to be- who you are."

"I mean, nobody is ever going to be perfect at everything, so why beat yourself up over it? Just do your best."

_ Huh… That was weirdly considerate. _

"Anyway, please take a break. You seriously are gonna hurt your hands if you keep going much longer."

_ I stopped playing, as he began to walk off. _

"Anyway, it was nice meeting you. Guess I'll see you around [][][][][][]."

_ As he neared the door, I felt unsure what to do. As such. I called for him to stop. _

_ "May I… As your name?" _

_ He smiled. _

_ "Sure. The names [][][][][][], but you can call me [][] for short." _

_ … _

_ After that day, Sunshine and Steinway talked quite a bit. He'd always stop by to listen to my Piano work after school as he'd get ready to practice the cello.  _

_ He always made it his mission to help me pace myself rather than go too far, and he helped me feel more comfortable whenever I made mistakes. _

_ After a while, we became good friends. Through him I met Sayori, and through her I met Natsuki and eventually Yuri. I finally had some real friends in my life. _

_...It felt nice to have someone to talk to, someone who wouldn't place all of their expectations on you. Someone who you didn't have to worry so much about impressing. _

_ As long as I did my best, he was happy, and so was I. _

"Hey Steinway, I think I found the exit!"

_ Sunshine was a little ahead, standing in front of a tree that looked rather familiar. _

_ He actually seemed to think the same thing. _

"Oh hey! Now I remember where we are! This was our old tree we used to hang out in the forest by your place."

_ Sunshine laughed as he reminisced. _

"God, we did a lot here didn't we? I remember we had a picnic that one time, and there was that time we found an old radio with all of the old songs from those sweetheart movies you used to like."

"Then there was the time we went out trying to set traps to catch a frog since Sayori had never seen one before. God we did a lot here, didn't we?"

_ I nodded, smiling a bit as the memories came back. _

_ Looking at the tree again, I was flooded with all of those great memories, the many stories of how we became best friends. _

_ As I looked closer, the fabric of the tree itself was woven with our friendship. It was a story unfolding, from start to finish. A beautiful image. _

_ As such, I felt that it would never fall back when I was younger. I felt that Image would always stand the test of time, and that it would always be there when I needed to remember the good times. _

_ Part of me wondered why I hadn't remembered such an important thing before. How long has it been since I last visited that place that felt so close to my heart? _

_ It was bittersweet. Seeing it all again, it was like looking through a glass panel at my past, forever frozen in frame. _

_ Sunshine quietly called out. _

"Well, memories are nice and all, but we should probably get you back home, no clue how long until the LoDN will start its magic again."

"Still, you could always come back. I really want to see you more again."

_ Sunshine gave me a hand. _

_ "But enough of that business." _

"Are you ready to go?"

_ I nodded, taking his hand as we both walked through the door, squarely planted in the tree. Looking back, I got one final look back at the old world I used to call home.  _

_... _

_ On the other side, I could feel the joy and memories fade once again as the slate was wiped clean. _

_ Back in Blank Canvas, I was alone once again as always. Everything was quiet and colorless, and the world was as it should be. _

_ Still, after such a journey, I felt inspired.  _

_ So, I quietly made my way to the Piano and began to compose a song. _

_ I began to hum a tune to myself quietly, preparing to work. _

_ I smiled. _

_ "This one…"  _

_ "...Will be perfect." _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ As Sunny awoke, he smiled and walked to the mirror. Seeing his clear reflection, he began the day as always. _

_ He met with Natsuki, he walked to school with Sayori, and finally after a few days missing, did his school-work with Yuri. _

_ The day went by very quickly in hindsight, as Sunny prepared for the upcoming club meeting. He was going to give the greatest performance of his entire life. _

"The sun does not burn.

I couldn't play because it was too moist.

So we sat at home

It is a cold, cold and wet day.

Sally and I sat there.

We both sat there.

I said: "As I want

I have something to do!"

_ Sunny knew it was going to be terrible, hopefully in all of the right ways. _

_ He couldn't help but internally laugh at the confusion he was expecting. _

_ He knew this was a silly thing to be excited over, but Sunny was always amused by the little jokes and details in life. _

_ As he entered the club, he was surprised to find Monika there first. _

"Monika? I never expected to see you here before everyone else."

"Oh, sorry if I give a bad impression by being late a lot. I just practice the piano most days."

_ Monika smiled. _

"I always take off on Fridays though, an old friend of mine used to get upset when I'd overwork myself. Shame last friday I still ended up late thanks to that faculty meet-up for the festival…"  _ she sighed. _

"You're a really hard worker, aren't you Monika?"

_ Monika gave a bit of an unsure expression. _

"Well, it's more like I have a very hard time saying no to people when they ask for help. At this point i'm just able to balance all of it a bit better."

"Back when I was in middle-school I'd end up passing out sometimes from all the work." (Now I do that at home.) She quietly added under her breath at the end.

_ I looked around as I spoke. _

"I have a friend named Hero who's like you. He's super skilled and always goes out of his way to help people."

_ Monika laughed. _

"He sounds nice, though I'm sure he has better reasoning for it. Nowadays, I just work to keep my mind busy if I'm honest…"

_ Monika looked over at the door. _

"Anyway, we should wait for everyone else to arrive. Feel free to have a seat if you want."

_ Quietly I took a seat, awaiting the rest of the club's arrival. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

"Ok Everyone! Now that everyone is here, I wanted to discuss everything we planned for the festival again, since Yuri is here now."

"Sayori? Would you mind giving a rundown?"

_ Sayori smiled.  _ "Alright, on it!"

"So, to catch you up Yuri, we're gonna be doing story readings as a group! Each of us is picking a story to read out loud, and we're gonna decorate the club room all cool and Natsuki's gonna make cupcakes!"

_ Natsuki looked proud holding up her poster. _

"We also started making these Posters to hang around the school based on our poems. I still doubt anyone will surpass mine!"  _ Natsuki snidely remarked, Making Yuri chuckle a little. _

_ It's good to see she is getting comfortable around everyone again. _

_ Monika spoke up once again. _

"So, to start us off, we'll be giving our choices for what we want to read and doing each of our presentations. After that we can focus on our posters and go hang them."

_ Sayori smiled and waved her hand constantly. _

"Yes Sayori?"

"I actually want to go first if you don't mind. I have this really cool story I found online I wanted to read!"

_ Monika smiled.  _ "Sure! I'm glad to see you be so enthusiastic about it."

_ Sayori quickly made her way up to the podium. _

"Alright everyone, my story is a rather small one, so don't worry."

"I'm gonna be reading Harry Potter book 3!"

_ "S-Sayori, thats-" _

_ Yuri was cut off by a very confused Natsuki. _

"Don't you know how long those books are? And why are you going to start on book 3!?"

_ Sayori pouted. _

"It was supposed to be a joke… I'm actually gonna be reading a story from "Land of Dreams."

_ "Oh? I used to love that book back in the 9th grade, I found the short stories really detailed!" Monika commented. _

"I think I read that once back in middle school, though it didn't make much sense…"  _ Natsuki quietly commented. _

_ Quickly though, Sayori began reading the story she chose. _

_ It was a story about a man who didn't realize he had died and kept living out his life for a long time. The twist was revealed when he found out that he had been hit by the car he thought he narrowly avoided at the start. _

_ It was an interesting story, and with Sayori's melancholic voice, it really gave the entire thing a unique spin than it would've been when read out on paper. _

_ Once she was done, we all clapped and she bowed. _

"Good work Sayori, just make sure to remember that you can dip into happier or sadder tones too when you read. After all, the tone shift would definitely make the end pop more." Monika commented.

_ Thanking her, Sayori walked to her seat. _

_ "So, who's next?" _

_ Looking around, Yuri popped up. _

"Oh Yuri! You already figured out what story you want to read?"

"Actually, I realized that Portrait of Markov has a short section isolated from the rest that could work very well as its own story."

_ Monika seemed to look a little anxious at hearing the book's name, but allowed it regardless. _

_ Yuri quietly came to the podium and began to read. _

_ … _

_ … _

_ … _

_ Sunny is afraid. Natsuki is afraid. Monika is afraid. Sayori is Sad. _

"That… Was interesting…" Monika commented, shaking slightly.

"Yeah. Interesting."  _ I quietly commented. _

_ Sayori looked sad meanwhile. _

"I can't believe the dog died at the end like that! How could they do something like that?"

_ Yuri simply smiled, ready to explain. _

"Well, the entire point was that everything had been from a liars point of view. It was a false narrative, them acting as a caretaker. As such, they had been neglecting the thing they thought they were protecting all along."

"..."  _ Sayori seemed to still be caught up on a dog having died. _

_ Turning to Natsuki, she seemed to be frozen out of fear. I patted her on the head, and considering she didn't protest that she must've been as scared as we were. _

_ "Well, we've definitely found our scary story…" Monika quietly laughed to herself as Yuri sat down. _

_ "So, who's next?" _

_ I stood up and walked to the podium. _

_ My time had come to cheer everyone back up. _

_ Breathing in and calming down, I unironically stated. _

_ "Today I'll be reading an edited version of the Cat in The Hat." _

_ *Ahem* _

_ I poured my heart into every last bit of the reading, giving it as much energy and emotion as humanly possible, even in places where it didn't make any sense. _

_ As I read, I watched everyone's expressions go from sheer confusion to a mixture of complete disappointment and laughter. _

_ Sayori, meanwhile, was clapping uncontrollably. _

_ "WOOOO! NOW THAT'S A STORY!" She cried out. _

"Um… That was…" Monika seemed really unsure what to say.

"O-Ok then! Who wants to go next?"

_ Monika quickly avoided the topic. _

_ "Oh wait, I guess only me and Natsuki are left." _

_ Monika looked over to Natsuki. _

"Fine, I'll go…" Natsuki muttered.

_ Quietly walking up to the poem, she pulled out a little booklet. _

"S-since I wanted to open the club up to people who like other forms of literature too, I-I decided to find a comic that got turned into a short story."

_ "A-Anyway, Its b-based on a game apparently, it's called "The Adventures of Captain Spaceboy. I-I'm gonna read it…" _

_ Natsuki looked super uncomfortable as she read at first, but slowly got into it as she went. _

_ She seemed to lose focus on the part of performing, and she got more into the spirit of as if she was reading it herself. _

_ Once she finished, everyone clapped. _

"Well done Natsuki! You actually nailed the adventure vibe surprisingly well."

"T-Thanks I guess…" She muttered.

_ I tapped her arm. _

"Huh? Is something wrong Sunny?"

"Me and my friends used to love that game and series. It was nice to see it again."

_ Natsuki turned a little red. _

"W-Whatever, it's not like I'm a big fan too or anything, I just found it…"

_ Finally, it seemed it was time for our club's leader to take her turn. _

"Well, I guess it's my time then."

_ Monika walked up to the podium. _

"Our last story of the day will be a poem actually, as I realized that it might be a good thing to end off the entire show we'd be doing."

_ Sayori smiled. _

"Oh? So you wrote a new one to read off for the festival then?"

_ Monika nodded. _

_ "Hopefully people will like it, it means a lot to me." _

_ Smiling and breathing in, Monika began. _

  
  
  


" **Forrest.** "

In the forest, a quiet tree sits among the others.

It's not too big or small, but it's a perfect place for rest.

It's branches hang in the clouds, its feet in the ground, its stories well rooted.

It has a tale to tell, and yet none can hear it.

A story of love, of hopes and dreams.

A story of friendship, time and reality

A place where much has happened, its spirit always sings.

A simply tree like this can have many tales to tell

But stands the age old question, would it be silent if it fell?

Sometimes I want to see it again, but I will never see

A silent tree, I wonder.

Will you set me free?

  
  
  


_ "Monika, what's with you and cryptic poetry?" Natsuki pouted. _

_ "Well, I just enjoy writing what's on my mind. It's just hard to convey things most of the time." _

_ I sat there silently, carefully thinking about the words. _

_... _

_ She is hiding something.  _

_ And I need to learn what it is. _

_ Looking at her eyes, I could see nothing but sadness unnoticed by the others. _

_... _

_...I think that she's trying to say something, but can't get the words together. _

_ If she's going to get better, I need to figure out what's going. _

_ After all, Monika is my friend too. I want her to be happy. _

_ This Sunday… I need to find your truth, Monika. _

_ I'll help you get there so you can help yourself like I did. _

_ … _

_ The day soon transitioned into working on our posters, though since 3 of us were done, we mostly watched Monika and Yuri, waiting to go hang them. _

_ Yuri as expected was rather good at art, though she took more of a painted style with it, using dark watercolors to make an expressive and detailed image. _

_ I didn't quite know what it was though… I just found it kinda pretty… _

_ Monika meanwhile had something very, very confusing and abstract. _

_ She clearly had the most artistic skill out of all of us, even beating Sayori's art from yesterday, yet the almost Picasso-like nature of the drawing made it just as confusing as the poem it was based on. _

_ The only thing I could make out was what appeared to be a T.V. screen, with images and colors leaking out of both sides. _

_ After they both finished, each of us went to a corner of the school and hung a poster. Then, meeting back up, we prepared to go back home. _

_ Before I left, Monika popped in. _

"Before I go Sunny, I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"You saw something, right? In my poem."

...

_ I remained silent. She sighed. _

"You know, I think we are quite alike. We both have stories to tell that the other doesn't know yet."

"For me, I just hope that once everything is said and done, we can all be friends and have a wonderful club to share. That's all I hope for."

"After all, I really care about all of you guys."

_ Monika turned toward the door. _

"...Anyway, I'll see you Sunday. Don't be late."

_ With a sad smile, Monika left the room. _

_ … _

_ I hear you loud and clear, Monika. _

_ I really do. _

_ Whatever happens, I'll be ready. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

|Unknown Number- Hey, Sayori? You're the one with the red hair right?

|Sayori- Yes? Who is this?

|Unknown Number- Aubrey. We need to talk about something.

|Sayori- You're one of Sunny's friends right? Sure, what's up?

|Aubrey- First off, What happened to Sunny's phone?

|Sayori- It got destroyed… Sunny apparently smashed it when Monday happened.

|Aubrey- Noted. Second question.

|Aubrey- Are you or any of the girls there like doing weird shit to Sunny? 

|Sayori- No? What do you even mean?!

|Aubrey- You'd know if it was the case.

|Sayori- I'm really confused…

|Aubrey- Alright, whatever.

|Aubrey- I just care a lot about Sunny's well-being

|Aubrey- I may not be there but I will kick someones' ass if he gets hurt.

|Sayori- I understand that completely, I kinda feel the same.

|Aubrey- Hm

|Aubrey- Don't hurt Sunny. I swear I will be pissed.

|Sayori- Of course not, what do you take me for?

|Aubrey- That's it. Have a good day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Aubrey- Kel.

|Aubrey- Kel answer your phone.

|Aubrey- Kel i swear to god.

|Kel- What? I was in the middle of something.

|Aubrey- Kel, I thought you said Sunny got a girlfriend.

|Kel- Well yeah, I think he did. I mean why else would he be acting like that?

|Aubrey- Someone is lying and I don't like not knowing who.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Kel quietly sat in his room, laughing to himself. _

"Sunny, you are going to thank me for all of this later. I know that for a fact."

"I mean you're too nice to go after someone. Lucky for you, I know how to be a good wingman."

"I'm going to get you a girlfriend Sunny. That's what friends are for, right?"

_ Kel laughed maniacally as he prepared to do what he felt was best for his friend. _

_ Then he coughed and fell out of bed onto the floor. That hurt a bit. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

|Yuri- Hero, are you available?

|Hero- I'm currently helping clean up the house. Do you need anything?

|Yuri- I had a bit of an idea I wanted to propose, as a bit of an apology to Sunny since both of us owe him a little.

|Hero- Alright, what's the plan?

|Yuri- Are you available monday?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Quietly playing the piano, Monika laughed a little. _

_ Playing the same song as always to the trees and forest, she couldn't help but feel sad as every note came perfectly. _

_ All of the years of mistakes had culminated into her ability to play the song flawlessly now.  _

_ It was the song etched into the sides of her own heart after all. _

_ As she played, she couldn't help but wonder if anyone was listening out there. _

_ Regardless, she kept playing along to herself and the air outside. _

_ Unknown to her, someone was watching from behind. _

_ A boy with a sad expression, simply shaking his head. _

"You never know when to give things a rest, do you?"

_ Sadly, she couldn't hear him speak. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ Back at home, Sayori was quietly sitting in her room, alone as always. _

_ Her parents were rarely home after all, they often had business across the country. This meant she was much of the time left alone in her house. _

_ Still, Sayori was happy. That wasn't something she could always say. _

_ Lately, all of the emotional discourse had drained her of energy, so she spent Much of the day sleeping, and yet she currently couldn't _

_ Sitting there, she began to wonder why things had gone the direction they had. _

_ Two weeks ago, Sayori was ready to leave earth. Now she wanted to stay more than anything. _

_ Was her bond with her new friend really that strong? She was unsure. _

_ She never really knew how to process emotions well. She did know however that recent events had made her feel like life was worth living once again. _

_ She felt like her friend Sunny would be the key to her happiness, yet she didn't know exactly how so. Perhaps it was the fact they shared similar emotional problems and she felt they understood each other better than most? _

_ Still, what did Sunny mean to her? _

_ Was he a friend? A best friend? Were they spiritual siblings sort of like MC and her once were? _

_ She wanted to think they could be like that with enough time. _

_ But… She couldn't help but wonder. _

_ Was it anything more than that? _

_ Sunny's friend Kel's comment had got Sayori to think about the idea. _

_ She hadn't even considered before if that was the source of how she was feeling. _

_ Sayori was unsure. It was very confusing and she didn't know quite what to do. She never understood how this stuff worked and it always stressed her out to think on it too long. _

_ Regardless, she needed to keep this quiet. She couldn't risk anything getting in the way of her new friendship. _

_ She wanted to make sure everyone would be happy, especially Sunny. _

_ And besides, she doubted Sunny would ever see her like that. She wasn't even close to the most appealing person he knew. _

_ God, why is life so confusing? _

_ Conflicted as ever, Sayori finally fell asleep. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ * _ **_2 days left before the festival_ ** _.* _


End file.
